Caught Live: Baths + Solar Bears @ The Workman's Club, Dublin

At a time when guitar-based instrumental music on this island is in such rude health, it's only natural that that genre's electronic cousin should start to pick up the pace and follow the fine example set by celebrated vocal-less locals like And So I Watch You From Afar, Enemies and Adebisi Shank. It could well be argued that Solar Bears presently make up a similarly-promising triumvirate along with Hunter-Gatherer and Toby Kaar, with all three acts either in the early stages, or just about on the brink, of garnering attention beyond these shores.

Whatever about the strengths of John Kowalski and Rian Trench on record, the Dublin-via-Wicklow duo would surely be the first to admit that, as a live undertaking, they are still very much paying their dues. Tonight is in fact one of the Planet Mu-signed pair's first proper 'gigs', and their bass-heavy opening set is a more solid than spectacular affair. The straining guitar samples and stuttered drumbeats of 'Neon Colony' draw punters away from the front bar and into The Workman's' main room, and there's an interesting-sounding new tune on which the duo let their shoegazing tendencies off the leash; on the downside, it can sometimes be a case of 'name the influence' - be it Boards of Canada, John Carpenter or M83 - as slickly-assembled tracks like 'Crystalline (Be Again)' and 'Forest of Fountains' end up sounding slightly derivative in a live setting. There's also the lack of audience interaction, but it's not like SB are the first (or last) electronic act to be found wanting on that front.

Will Wiesenfeld (aka Baths), on the other hand, brings no shortage of personality to the stage. There's a refreshingly naive giddiness to his stage manner (on the eve of tonight's gig, he had tweeted "My only impression of Ireland is from 'P.S. I Love You'"), and it's an endearingly unself-conscious quality that also shines through in his music.

The bulk of tonight's hour-long set is culled from last year's slow-burning Cerulean LP, and album highlights like 'Indoorsy', 'Aminals' and 'Lovely Bloodflow' - the last of which you can watch below - are rapturously received. The only minor low-points seem to come when Wiesenfeld abandons his customary falsetto: a handful of tonight's tracks suffer from feeble, unconvincing vocals and/or scatty, erratic bleeps that seemingly strive towards aping 'the Warp sound' but end up in IDM-by-numbers territory. Minor gripes aside, it's an assuredly entertaining set littered with high-points: the cosy cerebral pull of 'Maximalist' and, in particular, 'Plea' are stronger than ever this evening, the latter's echoing "please tell me you need me" refrain sounding almost anthemic as it bounces off the venue's walls. Who says you can't sing along to a guy hunched over a laptop?!?

To view a gallery of Fiona Diffley's photos from the show, go here. Below, meanwhile, you can check out Soundblob's video interview with Will Wiesenfeld, conducted only a couple of hours before the gig. There's also video footage of both artists in action on the night courtesy of Sasha Bond.

SOLAR BEARS /// PRIMARY COLOURS AT THE BACK OF MY MIND from Sasha Bond on Vimeo.

SOUNDBLOB presents BATHS from Sound Blob on Vimeo.

BATHS /// LOVELY BLOODFLOW from Sasha Bond on Vimeo.