After a string of successful European dates and festival appearances in 2013, Florida post-punk outfit Merchandise returned to London on June 9 in anticipation of their new release After the End (August 25), their first on 4AD.

Following support from Danish group Lower who set the mood with a raucous set packed with thunderous drum solos, Merchandise took to the stage with enigmatic frontman Carson Cox announcing, “We’re merchandise from Tampa Bay and we finally have some new material for the UK… so we’ll see how it goes.”

Spoiler: It went well.

Launching into two of these new tracks, Cox staggers carelessly around the stage throwing himself and his instruments around, swiftly ditching his guitar for a tambourine with the exclamation of “fuck it!” so he can concentrate on his singing duties. His unique vocals and the confident delivery of new material primes the crowd for the rest of the performance which also spans Children of Desire and Totale Night.

In keeping with Merchandise’s contrary attitude to their craft, the band take a different direction to usual performances for crowd favourite ‘Time’ from the independently released Children of Desire. Normally focusing on the track’s absorbing bass-line, they instead rely on guitarist Dave Vassalotti’s reverb and Cox’s vocals, treating the audience to a unique performance which builds the atmosphere.

The only shortcoming of the performance is that the crowd's a little sparse. Moving to Islington Assembly Hall, a larger venue than their previous London date in The 100 Club, it feels like they haven’t quite bridged the gap in capacity. However Cox & co. don’t let this distract them and make sure that those not in attendance are missing out.

Cox repeatedly slurs “swing and a miss” throughout – though he couldn’t have been further from the truth. Brought on for a second encore of ‘Become What You Are’, Merchandise create a frenzy in the remaining crowd, which Cox himself ends up in. With stage invasions and Cox singing from the pit, the final song of their 1 hour 20 set reaches it's peak in both volume and hysteria that they have been threatening to hit, leaving the audience satisfied, and rather dehydrated.

There quite simply is no formula to a Merchandise performance, nor should there be, as heads of the DIY-punk scene. And this is exactly why it works.