Diminutive Liam Finn, with his engaging, affable manner, fisherman’s beard and leprechaun-like appearance, is well suited to the low stage and informality of the Northcote Social Club on a Thursday night. There are lots of shout-outs to the audience, and good-natured banter and horsing about with fellow rock progeny Eliza Jane “EJ” Barnes.

Musically though, it’s straight down to business. Finn is a maestro who manages to be every member of the band rolled into one dynamic if slightly crazed operator, peering intensely over that beard and darting about to twiddle knobs and dodge the obstacle course of wires and microphones around him. And there is something endearing about those pristine white ‘dad’ trainers tapping furiously on the effects peddles.

Finn has a genial suck-it-and-see approach to the hapless instruments at his command, which he mercilessly thrashes, flogs, plucks and thrusts. His unconventional studio style – he prefers to record in analogue and is his own producer – translates well to the stage, though at times it’s easy to feel like an observer of some bizarre onstage experiment.

He moves from lead guitar – which he loops so that he can race off and thrash the shit out of the drum-kit – to theramin, which he wields like a possessed Brian Wilson, back to the drums, all the while holding sublime vocals together with partner-in-crime, EJ. The two have a personal chemistry which translates well to their musical interactions, and on songs like ‘Second Chance,’ their vocals meld beautifully above Finn’s manic instrumental adventures.

With the release of his debut album I’ll Be Lightning, Liam Finn emerges as a ridiculously talented individual who deserves to be measured and reviewed without reference to the Finn family twinkle in his eye – or at times in his voice – but that is a near impossible task for any reviewer. He takes the ‘play Six Months In A Leaky Boat’ heckles with good humour, and I suspect he won’t be judged by those standards for very long – he’s another kettle of fish entirely.

Susanna Nelson