Cara Dillon

What with an album released on Rough Trade, an appearance at the Witnness Festival and the media push surrounding her debut headlining live shows, it would seem to be a safe assumption that Cara Dillon is setting her sights on life beyond the folk scene. And there are certainly a fair number of “I don’t normally like trad but…” types here tonight, drawn by the promise of Dillon’s extraordinary debut record.

Backed by the brothers Sam and Seth Lakeman on piano, fiddle and guitar, her opening salvos certainly send a shiver up the spine. ‘The Maid Of Culmore’ is stunning, the HQ sent into a breathless hush as Dillon’s voice works its magic. Like Kate Rusby, who also served time in failed folk popsters the Equation, Dillon has the ability to take traditional music beyond its own boundaries, to infuse material such as ‘Black Is The Colour’ with a passion and grace that reaches listeners of all persuasions.

Stripped of the album’s more expansive musical backing however, an hour spent in Dillon’s company becomes rather lacking in surprises. Not yet blessed with the ability to hold an audience in the palm of her hand, you sense that breathless hush turning into a hum of idle conversation as it all proves a little too taxing for the non-trad types.

Which is a real shame, because the moments when voice and instrumentation swell as one are quite special, strangely reminiscent of Harriet Wheeler and the Sundays. The trio’s own songs too, many of which feature tonight, hint at a bright future. Not the unequivocal triumph then that some might have hoped for and a sign that that leap into the mainstream may still be some way off, but a certain indication that the Cara Dillon story is to be one worth following closely.