Bon Iver was a fine choice for the inaugural Serpentine Sessions, three days of smaller gigs to keep Hyde Park ticking over between mega-shows. Aimed at the kind of people who naturally find themselves drawn towards the more unusual acts on peripheral stages at festivals, with 3,000 spectators in a giant marquee it was still one of the least intimate concerts Wisconsin’s Justin Vernon had ever played.

Vernon, who is Bon Iver but plays live with three others, could have been handicapped by such popularity because his wonderful debut album For Emma, Forever Ago is as hushed and close as they come. The tale of its creation in extreme isolation in a woodland cabin is well documented, and its nine exquisitely muted songs do sound best in similar wintry solitude. Even so, he developed his sound to cope with this different kind of wide open space, becoming necessarily louder without sacrificing his delicate touch.

New track Blood Bank layered electric guitars for a rare rocky moment, while on Skinny Love his bandmates sat at a drumkit each to tap out a simple clicking rhythm. For The Wolves (Act I and II) the audience generated the most overwhelming moment, everybody repeating a simple phrase as the music grew ever louder. It turned a sparse, bleak song into an ecstatic communal experience.

Best of all, though, was re: stacks, performed alone, which still found space among the vital loudness for a silence so complete you could hear the speakers hissing. This is still what Bon Iver does best.