Yesterday evening I went to see Passenger—featuring Richard Brincklow on piano, keyboards, and bizarre Fisher-Price blowy thing—play at Komedia. They were excellent, but I knew that already. Great gig, guys. Reader, buy their single.

What I didn’t know is that Carrie Tree, the support to the support band, is astonishingly good. She completely overcame my musical prejudices and the gabbling of some of the audience to deliver a hypnotic performance. I’m ashamed to say that my first thoughts at seeing her on stage were: “Uh-oh: long-haired, high-pitched, hippie chick with an acoustic guitar singing about how someone should ‘come back’. Time to check my txt msgs.”

Then I moved into a position in the venue where I could hear her properly rather than just see her and I was, thereafter, motionless. She has the most extraordinary voice and a way with dynamics and vibrato that made me feel like a complete loser—as if I needed that. Her guitar playing was also fine and underpinned the melodies beautifully. I normally don’t enjoy the kind of music she makes, but this performance was an unbroken pleasure. If she is not massively successful within the next few years there’s no justice.