C Duncan / Jonnie Common @ Stereo, 8 Oct

Tonight Jonnie Common's left behind his usual desk of electronic wizardy, and has opted instead for an electric guitar and a single bandmate equipped with a flugelhorn. The sparse arrangement allows plenty of space for Common's kooky half-ryhmes and dry wit to sparkle; Restlessness – "a shout out to the unemployed!" – goes down a treat, brushed with pathos and sprinkled with self-deprecation. His lyrics require concentration and reward with punchlines, and by the end of the set Stereo's underground sweatbox has filled with appreciative punters.  

C Duncan and his newly expanded band (they're a five-piece, now) are here to celebrate the album launch of The Midnight Sun, his second record which dropped the day previous. Dialogue from cult sci-fi series The Twilight Zone soundtracks their arrival on stage, and is nearly drowned out by woops from a clearly familiar audience.

The new LP's lead track, Nothing More, is our opener, swelling and surging as indefinite as smoke, establishing the frozen, noirish atmospherics that the record holds. Tucked in among the instruments is a small side table, holding an old fashioned telephone – there's a loud ringing, and Duncan lifts the handset. "Hello? Thanks for coming!" he says, grinning at the gimmick, and explains that tonight's gig is split into phases: the next will re-visit his 2015 debut Architect. Say is greeted by boisterous wolf-whistles and Novices sees the five-piece employ genuinely jaw-dropping harmonies with all the grace of a Sunday choir.

Comparing older tracks with new offers a marker for how C Duncan's sound – and ambition – has grown tenfold in the last twelve months; new song Wanted To Want It Too, with weighty bass and chilling, glacial shifts, combines the new album's ethereality with Architect's hooks for an absolute set highlight. Given the warmth in the room tonight, it's no surprise that Duncan and his band are persuaded back for a final encore, and the crowd claps the rhythm of Garden's surging start long after the house lights lift.