With the return of Blood Red Shoes to their home town, and a release of their self-titled fourth album, Brighton fans were understandably excited to welcome back two of their own.

Playing with aplomb, guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and the ever-energetic Steven Ansell worked through a technically proficient set as you would expect from a duo that tours most of the year.

Unfortunately, they proved to be slightly disappointing.

Starting confidently, they launched stoically into a full rendition of their back catalogue, taking four songs to acknowledge the audience. This placed the focus purely on the music, exposing an almost metronomic, uniform quality that wasn’t helped by the instruments overpowering the vocals.

By midway through, the audience was reminiscent of a church congregation, enjoying the music they knew, but the insular nature of the performance made it hard for the fans to feel involved.

All of this was in contrast to the superlative performance of support band Slaves, a punk/ hardcore duo who drummed the audience into a fervour ready for Blood Red Shoes.