Out of all the treasures you would expect to find in a basement, dreamy shoegaze pop is probably the most unlikely of discoveries. But from the depths of his Brooklyn home, Mauro Remiddi – aka Porcelain Raft – has unearthed just that – a veritable trove of gems in the shape of debut album ‘Strange Weekend’.

The beer-soaked Leeds student union, however, might not be the best place to showcase its sweet, pastel-cloud charms – you can’t help but wonder how the delicacy of Porcelain Raft’s reverb-drenched textures are going to translate in such a cavernous space, under harsh lights and surrounded by wires and keyboards. But in this support slot for M83, Remiddi has stumbled on a sonic match made in heaven. While both occupy that same space between dream and reality, there’s a soft, smudginess to Remiddi’s yearning dreamscapes that flies well under the radar of the fluoro-swagger served up by tonight’s headliners.

It might almost be too subtle for a crowd expecting electro bombast, but bolstered by bandmate Michael Wallace’s drumming, the frothy nuances of ‘Unless You Speak From Your Heart’ and ‘Is It Too Deep For You’ now have real backbone to elevate them beyond their general prettiness. And although Remiddi’s shimmering, androgynous voice weaves a tad too gently in and out of the rippling Ariel Pink-esque gauze as though fighting to be seen through thick mist, there’s a much stronger heartbeat carrying the wistful skittering of ‘Put Me To Sleep’ and set closer ‘Tip of the Tongue’. By the time Remiddi’s thirty minute set comes to an end it’s clear ‘Strange Weekend’’s first live UK outing has been a triumph.

Dannii Leivers