With so many acts citing them as an influence over the last two decades, it’s nearly a miracle that San Francisco four-piece Deerhoof manage to keep their distinctively eclectic, yet reassuringly familiar voice clear from the crowd.

Part of that crowd, Leeds trio Cowtown, immediately recalled the wonky 1990s art-rock guitar chug of the headliners’ early records, as well as that band’s famously (painfully) loud sheer volume.

While sometimes awe-inspiring in their angular heaviness and almost impossibly sleek stage presence, there were also moments of the mind wandering in the face of an ultimately derivative, albeit tightly effective sound.

There was no such comfort zone by the time Deerhoof took over. From the avant-pop catchiness of new album La Isla Bonita and highlights Mirror Monster and Last Fad through to older, rockier material (The Perfect Me particularly infectious), this was a spare yet occasionally brilliant performance.

With labyrinthine guitar dancing around complex drums, Deerhoof’s masterstroke soon became clear. The building maelstrom teetering on the edge of chaos, singer Satomi Matsuzaki would draw the listener back in with silky vocals, only to then kick the whole thing off again.

Simultaneously delicate and sledgehammer-blunt, the contradiction at this band’s core was a truly fresh experience.

Four stars