Steering clear of any concession to mainstream sensibilities, this two-day festival showcased avant garde experimentalist musicians who regard accessibility as a misfortune to which unwary players are apt to succumb.

Anyone in search of euphony might as well have gone in search of a quiet pint in West Street.

That said, the highlight of the first evening was a joyous, good humoured and irresistible set from the Sarah Gail Brand Sextet.

The eponymous trombone player and band leader didn't so much perform her compositions as embody them.

When she played she squinched her eyes, squirmed, wriggled, and bent her knees as if alternating between torture and ecstasy.

Her band behaved more soberly but were equal to the breakneck rhythms and florid phrasing demanded by her pieces.

Honourable mention must go to Liam Noble on piano who kept the freewheeling sound tethered when it threatened to take off in the direction of anarchy.

The rambunctious performance was bookended by a spare and eerie performance from Woven Entity and Julie Kjaer at the beginning of the evening and a closing set from the formidable Kiermyer-Birchall Transcension, who sounded like four virtuosos in search of common ground.

When they gel they should prove an exceptional force.

Four stars