Dublin

Dublin magazine-turned-promoter Foggy Notions specialise in bringing over newcomers to these shores, experimenters and oddballs, the kind of “so indie you haven’t heard of them yet” up-and-comers you may be telling your friends about in 6 month’s time (Beach House and Grizzly Bear are past examples).

Tonight’s guests, AU, are no exception. They’re very fond of the kind of chanting vocals and rich, reverb-heavy sounds not unfamiliar to fans of Grizzly and Animal Collective, but with noticeably less adherence to pop structures than either. They consist of two members, Luke Wyland and Dana Valatka – the former, whose brainchild the band is, plays what seems like as many instruments as possible – keyboard, sampler, lap steel, vocals – while the latter complements with dexterous, fluid drumming (and occasional xylophone for good measure).

Their compositions are often drone-based - simple chord changes underlying a head-spinning variety of textures and ideas, as on the gleefully manic standout from excellent recent album Verbs ‘rr vs dd’ - and tend to build from slow, echoey atmospherics to multi-layered, cacophonous noise jams. As impressive as this is – and the drumming in particular is magnificent – it becomes a little predictable: it feels like the band are in such a rush to bring each song to a frenzied peak, they lose some subtlety along the way.

However, what they lose in depth and dynamics (there are only two of them after all, and it might be a bit much to expect a replication of the orchestral, choral arrangements on record) they mostly gain in energy and pure fun. The final rendition of ‘Are Animals’ sees them inviting friends and audience members onstage to help play drums, resulting in the delightful spectacle of seven people bashing away on the same kit while people outside in the street look up at the windows, wondering what the hell is going on above.

Curse our shoddy timekeeping. POD has gathered an unusually strong triple bill for tonight’s show, and Ragged Words foolishly arrives too late to catch Lucky Dragons (for which we’ll kick ourselves later when we listen to their myspace); however, we are lucky enough to catch Polar Bear. Being fans of bears of all kinds (Pandas and Grizzlies are particular favourites) we are already familiar with large mammalian bands presenting us with top-notch experimental music, and tonight proves no different. This UK five-piece play jazzy, mostly instrumental tunes, and boast a drummer with hair so ridiculously extravagant it can’t but be a distraction (group leader Seb Rochford), 2 saxophones, standup bass and a guitarist/electronicist who also plays a mean ballon. The dextrous, shuffly drumming complements the unusual arrangements, and the band’s powerful and adventurous compositions thoroughly win the crowd over.

They’re followed by Brooklyn five-piece The Dirty Projectors, who present a set of songs radically different from the one they played on their last visit to these shores less than a year ago, which augurs very well indeed for their forthcoming album Bitte Orca, due in June. The new songs are of a piece with the old, with Dave Longstreth’s distinctive voice and restless, scratchy guitar work at the centre, as the trio of female backing singers engage in incredibly intricate pass-the-parcel backing vocals. On first listen, however, they seem a little more accessible than before – less aggressive, less abrupt changes in time signature. The most noticeable examples of this are the two on which guitarist Amber Coffman assumes lead vocal duties, which incorporate mainstream Rn’B in a manner that calls to mind Britney had she been to art school, and on “Stillness is The Move” (live version here) we’re treated to the bizarre and wonderful sight of Coffman pouting and wagging her finger like a pop princess.

They round off their set with “Gimme Gimme Gimme” and “Thirsty and Miserable” from the preceding album “Rise Above”, and an encore leaves us eagerly awaiting the next one.