Porches / Japanese Breakfast @ The Hug & Pint, 21 Oct

The Hug and Pint's basement is packed out; we're standing on benches, perched on chairs and tucked in, shoulder to shoulder, in a bid to see the stage. It's corny to compare it to a big, squishy embrace, isn't it? But under the disco ball with Aaron Maine's band for company, it comes pretty close.

Japanese Breakfast arrive almost as anticipated as the headliners. Michelle Zauner put her band Little Big League on hold after her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and turned to writing (and re-writing) elegant, furious, painful songs under something of a solo moniker. Zauner is a mesmerising performer, and cuts like Heft and Everybody Wants To Love You hit – and hold – their bittersweet mark. Her band play with total joy, and it's a pleasure to witness. 

Porches begin with a couple of difficulties, or so they profess: two minutes of sound-checking later, they lead us in a round of applause for The Hug and Pint's sound engineer – and then blow the lid off Glow. The track's made the rounds since 2014, and that hook ("You won't take it back / I won't take it back") still captures every excruciating second of an impending relationship implosion. Porches' second album Pool dropped back in February, but this crowd could convince you that they've lived with these songs for years.

Maine's writing dives deep, and dances high; introspective and crystal clear, his watery metaphors often come mixed with a sprinkling of the cosmos. Showered in twisting, sparkling light, the lonerism of singles like Hour and Be Apart makes total sense. Cathartic and fixated, Black Dress sharpens the focus, but Maine remains lighthearted, cracking jokes and pulling slow, dream-like poses throughout Car. "It just feels really good to be in this city, in this small room, with all of you here," he says, beaming. "You look beautiful."

Maybe Porches do say that every night, in every city, but The Hug and Pint's sold-out audience are more than ready to believe it. Closing with Underwater, a brooding, synth-noir thriller that shimmers with melancholia, Porches send us out into the depths of a Friday night feeling like we've spent an hour sharing secrets.