Gig played on 09/10/05

The long wait for tonight's main attraction is made harder by one Karl Blau, a giant lumberjacky, pigtailed member of Laura Veirs's backing band, The Tortured Souls. Here acting as support, Blau has a loop sampler pedal, folks, and boy, does he know how to use it, as he tirelessly but well-meaningly demonstrates until the novelty wears so thin people begin to wonder if it might be worth going home to catch the end of 'Midsomer Murders' after all. It's not Blau's fault - this is an atypical Moles audience. They have back problems and babysitters to think about.

Eventually (after a stint selling her own t-shirts on the merchandise desk), the slight, pale, plaited figure of Americana poster girl, respected Nonesuch signee and one-time geology student Veirs appears centre-stage, looking even less worldly than on her album sleeves, if that's possible. Blau pops up again, on bass, and two other fellas set about their drums, percs and keyboard. As Veirs, without preamble, launches into "Lost At Seaflower Cove" you notice with astonishment that she barely opens her mouth at all to produce that wide, clean, honest voice of hers - this hints at a certain, tantalising buttoned-upness that you wouldn't suspect from listening tot he CD. She is holding back - and God only knows what would happen if she ever really let rip.

On current album "Year Of Meteors", Veirs's spare, ambient alterno-folk has developed poppier, pushier, more panoramic stylings, and this is expertly-replicated tonight - her poetic, lightly-melodied coffee-shop musings on sun, moon, stars, rocks, mountains and caves beefed-up and enveloped in the plush cladding of a committed, multi-instrumentalist electro-acoustic backing band. It's professional, confident, and no subtlety is sacrificed for the sake of bar-room showing-off.

It's weird, then, when at one point Veirs hands out body glitter to the audience; and at another sticks a small blue light on her forehead - both are slightly contrived moments in an otherwise sedate and civilised set. The indisputable highlight of the night is current single "Galaxies" - a wondrous, somersaulting miracle that lyrically transports you from outer space to the bottom of the sea and back. Only one thing could make tonight perfect and that's a bottle of wine served to us with a luxurious sofa...

by Anna Britten