Moderat @ O2 Academy, Glasgow, 5 Apr

There’s something distinctly odd about queuing up for an electronic gig when there’s still a whisper of daylight outside; even more so when the act in question is the Berlin-based three-headed juggernaut that is Moderat.

After packing the rafters of the O2 ABC on their last visit to our shores in 2014, trio Gernot Bronsert, Sebastian Szary (of Modeselektor) and Sascha Ring (aka Apparat) are back in Glasgow in support of their latest release, the dreamily introspective III – though in deference to the group’s popularity around these parts, two years on, tonight’s show makes a capacity upgrade to the grand cavern of the O2 Academy.

Another oddity, perhaps, that an act renowned for such apocalyptic beats should be staged in so… stately a venue, and on a weeknight too. Yet any thoughts of the early hour and the incongruous surrounds are swiftly cast aside when the lights dim, those considered, bone-rattling beats kick in, and Ring croons his way through soulful new track Ghostmother, set to an intoxicating panorama of strobing lights.

Mirroring the group's inward turn towards a distinctly brooding, organic aesthetic, Moderat draw heavily on III to deliver a concise set that weaves moments of cataclysmic percussion with placid, shoegazey ambience. Against spectacular, Kratwerk-indebted visuals, we undulate between the trancey, staccato pulse of Running and the Radiohead-smokiness of The Fool. Though it encapsulates Moderat's breadth of talent, this stop-start, build-it-up-then-bring-it-back-down nature proves ever so slightly jarring to those craving a solid run of clubby tunes. There's no doubting the heaving undertow to the group's live performances, however – if the throbbing dubstep delivery of Rusty Nails proves anything, it's that Moderat's beats are far too big to be contained by a school night.