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The 2016 incarnation of Canadian indie-pop trio Braids is far removed from the Montreal art-rock scenesters who lit up 2011’s Great Escape festival.

The psychedelia was ditched long ago for slick electronics; this patchy set failed to reach former glories despite the catchier style.

Before that, support came from Brighton alternative choir The Larsens - decidedly not accessible or pop in any way. All hunched crows'-nests and horror movie creepiness, The Larsens looked and sounded the polar opposite of your traditional choir.

With a name taken from the French word for the tone created by sonic feedback, they summoned the wonderfully infernal drone of Sunn O))) albeit somehow even less melodic than the scene heavyweights.

Hardly possible to be more different, our headliners’ glossy fare, when it worked, offered sophisticated, danceable songwriting. The intricate meandering of their song Happy When proved to be a sweet example.

Miniskirt, the synth ballad from the same album (last year’s Deep In The Iris) echoed the likes of Madonna before her decline while Companion, from this year’s EP of the same name, was just great.

Despite these highlights, though, Braids sadly befell the same fate as Mercury Music Prize-winners Alt-J: decent songs on record became nothing more than bland filler material live. Constantly breaking the momentum, this proved fatal.