Fun, frenetic and only a little gauche: Declan McKenna, at the Edinburgh Playhouse, reviewed

Towards the end of Declan McKenna’s snappy, enjoyable 90-minute set at the Edinburgh International Festival, something quite powerful occurs. The English singer-songwriter returns alone to the stage for the encore and proceeds to play a version of ABBA’s ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ with only his electric guitar as accompaniment.

It becomes a strange, emotionally layered moment. A young musician singing from the perspective of a parent ruefully reflecting on their child growing up, away and beyond reach; a predominantly teenage crowd singing those words back to him; and the older members of the audience, many attending with their own kids, staring blurrily into the middle distance.

It’s odd, but it makes a kind of sense. At the somewhat stodgy all-seated Playhouse, the massed ranks of youths rise to their feet the instant McKenna and his four-piece band walk onstage and remain upright for the entire set. The Circle was literally bouncing. In many ways, like thousands of good-looking young folk before him, McKenna is first and foremost a conduit for the eternal pop mission statement: unfiltered adolescent self-expression.

Yet he is also a modern-day indie star with pan-generational appeal. His earlier material reflects an obvious love of Bowie, Dylan, Talking Heads and, yes, ABBA. The poppier end of the spectrum at his Edinburgh gig – ‘Brazil’, ‘The Kids Don’t Wanna Come Home’, ‘Make Me Your Queen’, ‘Why Do You Feel So Down’ – defaults to lithe, rhythmic pop with a vaguely tropical lilt. Fun and frenetic, direct and only a little gauche.

His third album, What Happened to the Beach?, released in February, is a different affair. It skews towards the kind of guitar-heavy psychedelic terrain familiar to fans of Tame Impala, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Django Django.