Sometimes the joy of The Great Escape is that one can simply pick a venue and see what turns up.

And this year’s big festival find had to be Sweden’s brilliant Loney Dear, who became the subject of a standing ovation after his bravura one-man orchestra performance.

There was little hint of what was to come early on in the programme. Indie-popsters Jethro Fox were pleasant but lacked enough grit or originality to distinguish them from 100 other bands with guitars and synths.

And Karima Francis may have possessed an amazing voice but she overused it, throwing her all into every song so at certain points she almost sounded like she was yodelling.

Every song was an evisceration of her most heartfelt feelings and began to feel like an assault after the third. It was a shame as, when the bombast was stripped away, she had a voice packed with character, reminiscent of Patti Smith at her most soulful – just perhaps lacking the discipline not to overuse it.

Loney Dear’s appearance onstage was pretty unremarkable – a bear-like bearded man with his head bowed over an acoustic guitar. What wasn’t at first obvious was the array of effects pedals and percussion he had at his disposal to turn each song into an epic. Aided by loop pedals and a vocal effects machine that created something out of Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element, the man christened Emil Svanangen’s work was cinematic and reminiscent of Sigur Ros at their most accessible. It must also have been inspirational for any guitarist to show there are still more sounds that can be created from one of the most overused of instruments using just a brief stroke of muted strings.

Svanangen proved it wasn’t all about the technology though, with a beautiful stripped-down song midway through the set using just the power of his voice, the unfiltered notes of the church piano and a little audience participation.

Headliner Perfume Genius had a tough act to follow, and understandably suffered a little after what had gone before.

Although his debut album Learning had featured just Mike Hadreas’s distinctive voice and his piano, the sound palette on second album Put Your Back N 2 It had expanded to include an extra synth and occasional guitar or drums. His songs were beautiful and sparse, often short and to the point and, like Loney Dear’s, perfectly suited to the environment of St Mary’s Church – rising into the domed ceilings and echoing across the space. The mystery of his lyrics remained despite the less lo-fi setting – with Mr Peterson, about a strange and slightly unsuitable mentor, still heart-wrenching and slightly disturbing.

Sometimes with The Great Escape it’s worth avoiding the queues to see what riches are available off the beaten track.