When Germaine Dulac premiered his film The Seashell and the Clergyman in 1928, playwright Antonin Artaud, who penned the half-hour short's original scenario, is said to have heckled the screen, going so far as to call its director a "cow". If such confrontational behaviour sounds like a precursor to punk's assault on culture half a century later, a new score to the film by former Siouxsie and the Banshees bassist Steven Severin is all too appropriate.

Making his first solo appearance, Severin performed Music for Silents, a compendium of soundtracks for Dulac's film and six contemporary extrapolations of the surrealist spirit. Black-clad and sat stage-left with his laptop on a table in front of him, Severin provided a very 21st-century version of the silent-movie accompanist responding to the images onscreen - which, in The Seashell and the Clergyman, concern the erotic fantasies of a priest lusting after a general's wife, with all the sexual symbolism (and maid's uniforms) one might expect. Severin's electronic twinkles moved from moodily sombre to more playful piano runs for the chase scenes. The second half of the programme plugged into similar ambient dynamics to accompany black-leather voyeurism, fairground sideshows and explicit animations, all mixed up with visual collages and optical illusions.

In the speakeasy confines of a Saturday night Voodoo Rooms, it was a treat to see Severin's new direction treated so seriously. It's a shame such a unique event wasn't tagged with next week's Diversions season of experimental cinema at the Filmhouse. Either way, the avant-garde underground looks safe in Severin's hands.