IF A sizeable mosh pit is a good indicator of a high-quality gig then Parquet Courts deserved top marks for their efforts in Hove.

Middle-age punks joined teenage indie kids in the sweaty front rows as the four-piece, formed in New York, rattled through songs from their four albums to date.

The one-two hit of Master Of My Craft and Borrowed Time from their popular Light Up Gold provided an early thrill, Austin Brown’s standout lyric “Socrates died in the gutter” being bellowed back to him by about a dozen superfans.

That line alone should tell you something about Parquet Courts’ literate appeal, and here interlocking riffs supplied a meaty background to Andrew Savage’s yelped ruminations on a range of social issues.

Sunbathing Animal centres around the freedom yet limitation of artists and Careers in Combat speaks of young people being recruited to the army in lieu of any other options.

More affecting in Hove, though, were the more personal numbers – including Berlin Got Blurry, about loneliness, and Dust, about Brown’s depression.

The moshing, meanwhile, was fairly relentless, and Savage thanked the crowd for their enthusiasm.

Brown told several rambling anecdotes about previous experiences in Brighton, a city that has always been good to the band since their early days playing the Great Escape festival.

At times you were left desiring a little more variation from the band, and I did wonder whether many of the songs would sound the same to the untrained ear – the vocals were largely hidden behind raw, scratchy guitars.

One or two songs fell flat, especially the plodding One Man, No City.

It was difficult to find too many faults in a mostly immersive and always energetic show, however, and Parquet Courts’ cult following only seems likely to expand in the near future.