“It is our first time in the UK”, confesses Anna von Hausswolff, an immense smile on her face. The Swedish-born daughter of the co-monarch of the kingdoms of Elgaland-Vagaland (!) leads a five-piece band from behind her organ; pouring forth heavily atmospheric arpeggios while her companions contribute post-rocky reverberations and intriguing percussive noises from synth and guitar. Her voice is formidable, as though Florence Welch were raised in a gothic castle and trained for the opera. The ensemble performs only four songs over their 40 minute set, but the final piece is more of a suite of four distinct parts, the first of which is reminiscent of a baroque requiem mass, building up layers of melodramatic soundscape into an overwhelming crescendo. It’s as though she is setting up the venue as a cathedral dedicated to the musicians to follow, and if this is indeed the case, she has done a fine job.

Performing as a six-piece band, Efterklang take the stage to appease the breathless anticipation of the audience, and launch into latest release Piramida‘s opening track, ‘Hollow Mountain’. Vocalist Casper Clausen seems to have taken style prompts from Matt Smith’s Doctor, and looks extremely smart in a light jacket and bow tie, as does Rasmus Stolberg on the bass. It’s a real treat to see artists this accomplished a comparatively intimate setting, and everyone in the tightly packed audience knows it. In between their synth-tinged, spare, cinematic compositions, with choruses somewhere between birdsong and choir of angels, the band chat and joke and tease their grinning German keyboard-player, Martin, who doesn’t seem to mind. The minimalism of Piramida is inspired by an abandoned mining settlement in the north or Norway, but if there is a chill in the Nordic melodies, it is warmed away by the sight of a band loving what they do.

With a good balance between material from Piramida and older songs, it’s an increasingly pleasing set. Highlights include the percussionist’s awe-inspiring solos during ‘I Was Playing Drums’ and ‘Blowing Lungs Like Bubbles’, the meteorological build-up throughout ‘Raincoats’, and the groovy syncopation of ‘The Ghost’, not to mention Stolberg’s bass-face. A nice touch is the distribution of small random tokens to the appreciative audience – including a postcard from Eindhoven and a t-shirt of a Brazilian band – that really adds a sense of community and interconnectedness to the experience.

Closing the main set with crowd-pleaser ‘Modern Drift’, the band takes a break before returning to encourage a little bit of audience participation. The slightly bashful crowd allows Clausen to conduct them in humming, hand-clapping, and foot-stamping, as the rest of the band ad-libs on a variety of percussive household objects including a nutmeg grater and a butter dish, before eschewing microphones for a final three-way harmony, bellowed from the front of the stage. It’s a fittingly intimate finale to a gig that has been both unique and exhilarating.