When The Naked and Famous last played Oxford, more than two years ago, the gig was disappointing.

Singers Alisa Xayalith and Thom Powers could hardly be heard above the music and there was the suspicion that perhaps this break-out band from New Zealand couldn’t cut it live.

But a dynamic set at Reading Festival and their return to a sold-out O2 Academy last Saturday proves 2011 must have been down to bad mixing. The elements of TNAF’s synth-heavy pop are so interwoven that if you get the acoustics wrong with just one part live then it doesn’t hang together.

No such problems in 2013. TNAF, now touring on the back of their second album In Rolling Waves, were in top form.

If there is one word to try to describe just what this five-piece produce it would be sonic.They look like a bunch of weedy art students yet they produce a hugely powerful and forceful sound.

While their songs are so structured and intricate that it means there is little deviation from album versions, live they are really able to punch out the bass. Allied to their pulsing light show, this is music you can feel.

TNAF leant heavily on the new album, especially for much of the opening salvos, rather than just staying safe by relying on more well known numbers from their debut, Passive Me Aggressive You.

It went down well, although of course it was still hits Punching In A Dream and personal favourite No Way that got the crowd pumping before TNAF closed out with the peerless Young Blood.

The Naked and Famous

O2 Academy, Oxford