Richard Hawley/Pony Club

Pony Club is the brand-new brand-name of Mark Cullen, formerly of Bawl and Fixed Stars, tonight performing a fresh batch of songs from his new album, Home Truths. His are tales of domestic dysfunction and claustrophobic relationships, cutting vignettes crystalised in gems of caustic wit and sparkly keyboard lines.

Songs like the glammed-up ‘CCTV’ recall some of the shiny brittle pop moments of Cullen’s former incarnations, and very adult songs like ‘Single’ possess a child-like loneliness. The set gently built up momentum from melancholic tenderness to a final angry intensity – on ‘Happy Families,’ the singer exorcising a bitter list of disillusionment, “I can’t promise happy endings, I can’t promise Marvin singing… I can’t give you what I’d love to”.

Richard Hawley opened with the enchantingly simple joy that is the single ‘Baby You’re My Light’ and proceeded to deliver between-song banter with the air of a stand-up comedian on the Northern working men’s club circuit, in his gruff Sheffield accent and shiny suit, saying things like, “I try to look cool, but you just can’t when you wear glasses, can you? You’re fucked!”

After stints as guitarist with Pulp and the Longpigs, Hawley’s solo efforts now more than match those of his previous outfits, his low Neil Hannon-esque voice, whether accompanied by lonesome country rhythms or breezy Bacharach tunes, is perfect for the poignant lyricism of songs like ‘Coming Home’ and ‘Bang To Rights.’

Despite an annoyingly chatty Thursday night crowd, Hawley created a sort of magical, and very cosy, atmosphere, constructing a cocoon of the kind of delicious sadness you want to wallow and revel in. But then, I am a sucker for bittersweet songs, especially when sung by speccy guys with deep honey voices that catch in all the right places, (take a bow, Messrs Pernice and Costello.) Things just got better when a double bass appeared for the encore, and for the night, Whelan’s became a mini-utopia for lovers of romantic melodic pop.