Live Review: Grimes & Geoffrey O'Connor

I think that's Grimes. No, wait, that could be Grimes. Hang on, is that Grimes?

There are a few Claire Boucher look-alikes wandering around the Corner even as Geoffrey O'Connor and his local all-star band get into their set. O'Connor has pumped up the saccharine synths of his debut solo album with synthetic Caribbean percussion, making his crooner-pop now a real dancefloor contender. Flanked by Jessica Venables (Jessica Says) and Ben 'Bjenny' Montero (Montero), O'Connor is all hips and dad jokes, dedicating Giving It Away to the bar staff. One point to you, sir.

The strength of Grimes has thus far lay in Boucher's ability to be a half-step ahead of the zeitgeist. Boucher moves quickly, jumping from proto witch-house on 2010's Halfaxa to tripped-up, waterlogged R&B on this year's Visions. As soon as she arrives onstage with face-hugging dark hair and beanie, looking little like her sequinned fans, and full of nervous energy, tweaking knobs on her sampler and getting the lights dimmed, it's easy to see she's not aiming for a picture-perfect stage aesthetic. This isn't the Grimes of Boucher's videos; she isn't stuck to those fashions nor is she a woman stuck in time, mysterious in slow motion. But the question remains: nearly a year on from Visions' release and still touring those songs to hungry audiences, how will she play a relevant set when the zeitgeist has again shifted?

Boucher's answer is to keep things loose. Her set is less performance, more singing-DJ mix. Warming up with the light Symphonia IX (My Wait Is U), she is soon backed by two female dancers who could easily be her friends. There's no choreography and really no sign they're professionals. They just dance. So does Boucher, pulling all kinds of shapes through Oblivion, Be A Body, Vowels = Space And Time and most recent single Genesis. The songs are broad cut-and-paste, Boucher triggering samples, the higher vocal notes coming from her gear while she puts heavier accents on the lower melodies through the mic. The beats, too, feel heavier, more cluttered, more in line with what's happening elsewhere in the world of crossover club acts. She tells us she won't do the standard staged encore she's required to perform in the States. Boucher is going for something here – she's bucking against the accepted venue-gig ritual, particularly for other women in her position. She's telling us we can't and won't be able to pick her out in a crowd and she's giving herself creative space to move forward.

The only problem is that we, as an audience, are at a gig. It's hard to know what to do with ourselves. Do we try to act like it's a party, dance and talk? Do we watch what's happening onstage, as relaxed as it is? Everyone chooses for themselves. It's a mixed response. Only Genesis, with a melody that transcends music itself, really brings everything together and realises the banging community gathering Boucher is aiming for. The Meredithians no doubt found an easier way.