Live Review: Grimes, Scraps & Brainbeau

Considering one of the most hyped artists of the year is taking to the stage in mere hours, punter numbers are thin for opening duo Brainbeau (“Like a rainbow in your brain,” as the bearded half of the twosome, Chelvis Chesley, informs us), however, the pair go about their craft unaffected. Facing each other centre stage, Chesley looks after the percussive side of the tracks, his fingers moving vigorously over his sampler, while Kaydee Martian weaves layers of atmospherics over the rhythms. Although a few tracks are the victims of false starts, once the locals lock down on a track you quickly forget those minor hiccups.

The patience of punters is tested with a loud stretch of classical music before local lass Laura Hill, aka Scraps, works the swelling crowd over with her electronic power pop. It takes her a few songs to find her feet, but once the tempo kicks up a notch the tunes manage to take off. Her vocals are a mixture of shouty verses and more traditional melodies and she seems totally at ease absorbing the collective gaze of the room; again, there's little in the way of a live show, but the blonde synth player encourages the energy levels to step up and glamorous ladies and hipster gents happily oblige.

There's a piercing shriek when Montreal's leading lady of pop Grimes positions herself behind a bank of synths and sends out the notes to a packed house. She knocks out a few jams on her lonesome before a couple of dancers with questionable moves join her to gyrate a little. The stage is scantly lit, the air thick and musky, but the Canadian is surprisingly polished and on point, a pleasant reality considering how cut and paste her recorded work is. She airs almost all the tracks from her celebrated record from earlier this year, Visions, with highlights including Genesis and Oblivion, while older songs are scattered about to fill out the 50-minute set. There's not much in the way of banter and her emotions are kept well contained, however the celebration is in the music. Her voice is pitched high and child-like, but it never grates or feels novel, and she's dynamite at bringing all the sonic elements of the tracks to the fore without it sounding cluttered. The 24-year-old clutches the mic tight and manages to get a dance stomp on sporadically, but it's clear she's focused on making sure her songs are given the performance justice they deserve, and although the set comes and goes all too quickly, by the end there's no denying that young Claire Boucher has knocked it out of the park tonight.