Katie Von Schleicher @ The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 30 Apr

The Hug & Pint is not exactly a cavernous live music venue, and filling it is usually not too much of a problem for the majority of top bands and artists who grace its stage. But playing at 10pm on a Monday night is one sure fire way of making sure you’re in for a tough ride.

At least, that’s what you might have expected as Brooklyn-based musician Katie Von Schleicher tuned-up with her bandmates in front of a very sparse crowd. It hasn’t been long since she was last here, along with guitarist Adam Brisbin (who makes a reappearance tonight) opening up, percussion-less for Big Thief at the CCA to a sold out room in November last year.

Tonight, backed by drums, they are the headliners, following the ever so slightly funky, saxophone bolstered indie rock of Fiskur, the new project from Three Blind Wolves’ Ross Clark, which is now fully fleshed out to a four-piece band.

Some bands might crumble at the sight of a barely filled room; others might wearily carry on, clocking in a half-hearted set before bidding farewell and never returning to Glasgow again. Few would have predicted Von Schleicher’s response.

Fully geared up, the trio plummet into an opener of face-melting grunge, all monstrously distorted guitar and lovely loose drumming. The crowd begin to trickle in – whether they are merely stragglers too preoccupied with a drink upstairs, or intrigued bystanders drawn down by the assault of sound rumbling from below, is anyone’s guess – until the room is buzzing again.

You’d be forgiven for wondering where a start like that came from. While Von Schleicher has a tendency to get loud every now and then on her 2017 record Shitty Hits, it’s used sparingly. In fact, the first half of her set here is more akin to the lo-fi fuzz of her 2015 album Bleaksploitation, if the volume had been cranked beyond breaking point. Compared to her low-key sound before Big Thief last year, this set embraces the noise.

She breezes through songs that may not be hits, but are anything but shitty, interchanging between a Rickenbacker, keyboard and motherboard of switches and dials. It culminates in some new tracks from her forthcoming release, including single Glad to Be Here, and a short but thrilling ripper that unfortunately remained nameless.

As the night goes on, things begin to mellow out. Shitty Hits intro The Image retains a classicist’s sense, both in its composition and its timelessness, while Baby Don’t Go provides a fitting send-off before the ultimate finale of Mary, a song that sparkles and glistens compared to the rough and ready rock of 45 minutes earlier.

It’s clear Von Schleicher is taking her degree-worthy songwriting to new levels of ostentatiousness and scope. Hopefully, the initial quiet of a depleted crowd won’t stop her from bringing such a surprising show to Glasgow again in the future.