Acoustic 4 x 4

A lady who identifies herself only as Jessie is first on stage at this singer/songwriter showcase. She kicks off with a cracker of a song called ‘Red Coat’, and then apologises for the absence of her singing partner, Layla, due to illness. She has, she explains, rarely performed solo before, but given the strength of her material, the more she does so in future, the better.

Australian Matt Lunson opens with ‘Bloody Mary Breakfast Club’, which turns out to be every bit as good as its title. “This is a song about your girlfriend being a prostitute, particularly in Darlinghurst, Sydney’s red-light district”, he announces, before launching into a tune that must surely be up there with the Police’s ‘Roxanne’ as a contender for Best Song About Your Girlfriend Being A Prostitute Ever Written.

If Lunson’s material bears a resemblance to anybody else’s, it is to that of Michael J. Sheehy, another gifted chronicler of the bruised and abused.

Keith Moss begins his set promisingly enough, holding the audience in a menacing gaze as he plays a discordant riff over and over. It soon becomes clear, however, that he has not yet made up his mind whether he wants to be a pop star or a comedian. The shelving of either enthusiasm could only be of benefit to the other.

Songs like ‘If Only They Sold Houses In Legoland’ and ‘The Forgetful Lifeguard’ are amusing enough on first listen, but I can’t imagine wishing to hear them a second time. The straight-forward pop efforts like ‘The Other Side’ are probably the ones he should take the time to polish up.