You have to feel sorry for Hyde & Beast. On The Fly’s count, there are only 18 people here to see them play tonight, and several of those present were in the support band. Last time frontman Dave Hyde was in Sheffield, he was drumming with his other band, The Futureheads, in front of several thousand people on the main stage at the city’s huge summer festival, Tramlines. He’s not used to playing for 18 people.

And nor should he be, because ‘Slow Down’, Hyde’s debut album with Neil ‘Beast’ Bassett, is a fantastic psych-pop passage through two sensitive, slightly surreal musicians’ minds. Their set tonight marches off at an agonisingly slow pace, as Bassett’s drums heave up against a huge mound of dense, droning guitars during ‘If You Could Buy Me Anything’. It’s a slog but it’s a satisfying one, and worth it to hear all of Hyde & Beast’s sadness and madness combine on the colourfully flabby chorus of ‘Never Come Back’, which stomps wearily around the stage like a fat guy in a clown costume. Later, the understandably cautious crowd seem suddenly eager to do-si-do when the barn dance beat of ‘You Will Be Lonely’ kicks in.

Although live, Hyde & Beast are helped out by two extra guitarists, a bassist, and Hyde’s brother and fellow Futurehead Barry on keys, nothing seems over-the-top. The band use simple ideas to create an enormous impact, spicing up glum psychedelia with tricks of the pop trade. Their short, sharp radio-friendly flourishes constantly catch you off guard, so that the mere shake of a tambourine or quick twinkle of a piano makes you gasp in amazement. Hyde & Beast are full of these eccentric surprises, and deserve to be heard by a hell of a lot more people.

Robert Cooke