You can’t imagine Battles playing a bad gig – not like other bands might – because Battles are three of alternative music’s finest musicians. They quite simply don’t mess up. But there has been a strange cloud hanging over the band since core member Tyondai Braxton quit in 2010, leaving the other three to finish recording second album ‘Gloss Drop’ and work out how they hell they were going to play their back catalogue without him.

Tonight, Battles launch into their 2007 breakthrough single, ‘Atlas’ early in their set, perhaps in a bid to convince fans that they are still the same group of ultra-experimental, mysteriously complicated, dancefloor-friendly polymaths. But guitarist Ian Williams looks uninterested, dawdling rather than dancing along to a recording of Braxton’s voice. Not that Williams’ ambivalence makes him any less skilful – he’s full of tricks for guitar geeks to drool over, and most impressive when he hammers the strings of his guitar with his left hand while his right hand plucks polyrhythmic patterns out of a battered synthesiser. All the while, John Stanier attacks his drums with a bear-like ferocity, making the stage shudder under the weight of even his simplest 4/4 beats.

On paper therefore, you can’t really fault Battles. They are musically impeccable and technically jaw-dropping. But, it has to be said, emotionally they are dry – focused on their music but distant from their audience. They make you think, but they don’t make you feel, so while their performance is undeniably impressive, it’s hard to fully connect with. The problem for Battles, who have a legacy of innovative live shows and truly groundbreaking music, is that they have set the bar so high for themselves. You can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed when they don’t quite clear it.

Robert Cooke