Wild abandon really suits Natasha Khan. SEXWITCH, her new project with producer Dan Carey and Brighton psych band Toy, has seen her tap into more raw veins than she’s ever hit as Bat for Lashes, channelling those hippy tendencies into something gutsier and lustier. Tonight is their first proper gig after making their debut at Green Man festival, and as they open with Ghoroobaa Ghashangan, a brooding, grooving, Led Zeppish cover of an Iranian original (all six tracks on SEXWITCH’s eponymous debut are heavily psyched-up takes on songs from various parts of the world), the mood is taut and focused, Khan all head-shaking and hypnotic intensity. Ha Howa Ha Howa has a wired, carnal drive, Khan as demon lover chanting “He addicted me / And I addicted him”, while Helelyos’s lurching, krauty rhythm and jagged riff race her in a restless hunt for release.

With more gigs under SEXWITCH’s belt, you feel that Khan will fill her new psych shaman role fully; XOYO isn’t the easiest place to conjure magic on a Tuesday night, and sometimes the energies feel focused a teeny bit too inward. The most successful songs live are those with the most rhythmic punch; spacier moments such as Lam Plearn Kiew Bao can sometimes lose momentum. But with only seven songs to their name so far, SEXWITCH can be forgiven for overextending some slightly.

“This is our last song,” says Khan, introducing the trance-inducing thrum of Kassidat El Hakka. “We don’t have any more! We can make it go on for a while, though. I’ll pass out halfway through …” She doesn’t, but you’d believe she might, or be transfigured or burst into flames, such is the frenzy with which both she and band cut loose, Khan urging us to “seek now”, losing herself in orgasmic, rapturous wails. It’s powerful stuff and leaves you hoping there are more spells where those came from.