With just a gentle stroke on her guitar strings, Australian Courtney Barnett was able to bring back happy memories of the grunge era – even if she was sporting a polka dot rather than the standard check shirt.

Backed by only a bassist and drummer, her third Great Escape performance of the weekend sounded much bigger than the sum of its parts.

The set-up may have meant that the music lost some of the light and texture provided by the keyboards on the two EPs released so far but Barnett filled in the space with an impressive energy between beer swigs sitting on solid grooves which could happily have gone on forever.

Live her semi-conversational vocal style is even bigger than on record – although it was occasionally difficult to pick out her carefully crafted lyrics muffled under the guitar thrum.

The best moments came when the lines were allowed to breathe. Highlights were Avant Gardener, her true story of an anaphylactic shock while trying to clear an overgrown garden, and Are You Looking After Yourself?, a recreation of concerned mother’s phone call including the brilliant closing line “Are you eating?/ You sound so thin.”

A pair of new songs suggest there is more greatness to come on her forthcoming album – this is unlikely to be the last the world hears of her.