Fionn Regan (Ruby Sessions)

Ever reliable for the high standard of its performers, the Ruby Sessions offered a selection of strong singer/songwriters, beginning with Barry O’Brien, a man with a wonderful way around a melody and an air of Badly Drawn Boy to some of his delicately-plucked tunes. Eamon Mitchell is a four-year veteran of the sessions, and though his style was at times a touch MOR for my taste, he moved on to some interesting new material, and caught the audience’s attention with the slow build up of his final number.

Derrick Devine has the skill of immediately captivating a crowd with his presence, deep voice and between-song banter. A sardonic humour is at play in the midst of his clever lyrics, while songs like ‘Threadbare’ display a gripping sense of darkness and aggression.

The scene is thus nicely set for the headline act, Brighton-based singer/songwriter Fionn Regan, who recently released the acclaimed Reservoir EP. But when Fionn starts to sing, strange things happen. During the chorus of his song ‘Sirens’, a fire engine wailed past outside. Commonplace enough, I grant you, but just as he sang the bit about “mattress on fire” the glass ashtray containing a candle on our table exploded, showering the table with shards and instigating a minor conflagration.

The little Nick Drake-alike rather suspiciously neither batted an eyelid nor dropped a note, but instantly recaptured the intense hush of the atmosphere, his folky melancholics, strongs dynamics and the fierce haunting quality of his voice rounding off a spookily beautiful evening.