Minus the Bear @ Stereo, Glasgow, 2 Jun

A band whose name comes from an in-joke about a bj but whose gigs attract basements full of grown men, Minus the Bear are like one of those reversible puppets; metaphorically, their music is the silken, appealing princess, amusedly stitched together with a scary ogre. Their shimmery guitar tapping along with gentle, reviving lyrics and ambling time signatures have attracted fans that, from first listen, are spellbound by their hypnotic compositions. Bad jokes and venue gender disparity are a Macguffin to the Minus the Bear reality. Fans, once fans, remain loyal to their earnest, bittersweet lyricism backed by sound that snakes between twinkling guitar lines and electronic ruptures. This is seriously emotive music, performed by seriously pleasant virtuosos.

So pleasant that when the bass amp blows up after performing just two songs from their first album in five years, VOIDS, Seattle native Jake Snider remains self-deprecatingly chill. He enquires after the audience while tech support work the bass through the PA behind him, as if losing half his rhythm section was a minor detail compared to catching up with fans. The slight pause in momentum is set right when they jump into Into the Mirror, rewarding their fans’ loyalty, both over the past years and this evening’s blip, in one compacted, perfect performance. It’s pedestrian to rail off that a band sound "just as good live as their recording" but this is an undeniable and well-earned truth in the case of Minus the Bear.

They play Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse from their debut album composed of bonkers, conversational track names that conceal the sentimental, emo-diary workings of their inner seams. Like the lines ‘Morning came early / Sitting on a park bench / That's older than my country’. If that doesn’t make you feel a bit alive, then I’m sorry to tell you you may be a lizard person unknowingly disguised as a human. They delight fans further by playing seductive Omni helm tracks My Time and Excuses before rounding up after a rowdy encore with VOIDS hit Invisible. Ending the gig on the most fanged and infectious pop track of the album was a manifesto: let this year’s smooth, exquisitely mature release take a seat alongside the lingering nostalgia-frenzied hits.