Live Review: Pluto Jonze, Tokyo Denmark Sweden, Tim Fitz

Each act on the bill of Pluto Jonze's See What The Sun Sees tour seemed to have a knowing affinity with the strange, electrifying quality of music that is made without instruments, that is a little distorted, that comes from defying genres and giving over to experimenting.

Tim Fitz played a commendable one-man show. Armed with a drum machine, an electric guitar, a laptop and a pair of drumsticks, Fitz breezed through his diverse set list, travelling through indie pop, dirty rock and bleep-bloop electro and a Ryan Adams cover - during which he slapped his guitar with drumsticks. His melodic guitar lines were really gorgeous to listen to.

The first few tracks in Tokyo Denmark Sweden's set seemed all strangely alike, each running into the other; the heavy, dark synth line in each song seemed to dominate. Deeper into the set, however, the band seemed to pull out at all stops — their vocal harmonies were clear and upbeat, and their guitar lines seemed really neat and tidy. Their set closer, with its heavy, almost jungle-y mechanical drum beat and spooky, pre-recorded vocal rhythm was particularly impressive.

There is something undeniably special about the alternately strange and ethereal, then anthemic and irresistible, sounds of Pluto Jonze. Kicking off his set with ear-splitting theremin noises, then slowly bringing in heavy drum and guitar lines to balance everything out and bring the sounds a little closer to earth, Jonze used his very first track to introduce us to his strange ability to fuse sounds and transcend genres, to leap from dirty rock to very light pop, to introduce mechanical drum beats and distorted synth sounds to serious rock guitar lines. A clear example of this ability, his breakaway hit Plastic Bag In A Hurricane, was met by frenzied dancing and wild cheers from his small but clearly devoted audience; the passionate, frenetic way in which the band played this track belied the number of times they must have played it, with Jonze himself crouched on the stage floor, reaching up to play his keyboard. There is an epic, electric energy running through this band, driven by its pursuit of sounds which are strange and unusual. Their newest single, See What The Sun Sees, seems to have a prescient title; Pluto Jonze's music is gloriously otherworldly.

At times strange-sounding and otherworldly, at other times neatly anthemic, Saturday night's See What The Sun Sees tour presented music that is, at all times, totally compelling and wildly electrifying.