With a live show based largely on vocals and samples, local duo GAPS have been described as an electro-folk fusion. This doesn’t go all the way to describing the breadth of their influences, or the richness of their sound. They draw from a diverse palette that is guaranteed to leave you smiling, but may well leave you wondering exactly what you’ve just heard.

Now free from a label (their own decision), this was the first full Brighton showcase of their sophomore album As It Is. There’s something affirming in their determination to make music on their own terms, and the obvious pleasure they take in it – from the first pulsing and ambient rhythms that form the bedrock of their sound, both performers onstage light up, clearly thrilled to be playing their first hometown show for some time.

It’s a downtempo opening, where the textures of the songs are allowed to take centre-stage. We called As It Is “an album of details”, and this is borne out in their live show: a close listen reveals, above the sea of bass, certain sounds – a hollow click, an echoing pop, a satisfying thwack – that offer endless aesthetic pleasure. Songs like ‘The View’, the third in their setlist, or title track ‘As It Is’, reveal this depth and clarity within their songs and allay any disappointment that they had completely stripped away the live instruments from their show and were playing only on drum machines.

The set tended towards more energy as time went on, while the mood of the songs darkened. The insistent electric guitar samples of ‘Hide Behind the Years’ made for a trip-hop sound that evoked the last early-morning explosions of energy at an exceptional party. Likewise ‘Shatter’, the band’s encore, was their most definitive foray into dance music: its crunchy bass and tribal rhythms had a hardcore group of fans flailing groovily at the front of the stage.

They drew clear influences throughout their material from across trip-hop, ambient and minimal electronica. As the set wore on, however, folk began to seem more and more like a lazy, catch-all classification. Many of their guitar samples, if they are folky, are folky in an archaic way – they almost suggest medieval guitars and lutes. Likewise, Rachel’s vocals could sound dramatic in a religious, almost sacrosanct or monastic sense – at times, their songs sounded like they would be best performed in a cathedral where they could properly inspire shock and awe. It’s hard to imagine any style further away from anything electronic – and yet GAPS blended them together seamlessly.

The Prince Albert hadn’t sold out, but you could feel that GAPS were playing to a crowd of true fans and friends. While they have forfeited the backing of a label – a backing that may have seen them playing a bigger venue, and selling more copies of their album – in doing so they have gained the creative freedom that made their album and the show so entertainingly explorative. They’re making the music that they want, and playing it out to who they want, when they want. All of this made the show intensely personal, and hugely enjoyable.

Ben Noble

Facebook: facebook.com/gapsmusic