Flanked by former Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour and Something Happens guitarist Ray Harmon, and standing in front of a comfortably full house that included major A&R personnel, singer Gemma Hayes looked ready to take on all comers. In one of her songs she sings of refusing to settle for anything less than her dreams, a defiant idealism that one hopes she will stick to.
On the basis of her excellent show on Thursday night last, there's a strong possibility that at least some of those dreams will come true.
Of course, singer/songwriter territory is a minefield these days. For starters, there are more of them than we really need, and even some of these are wholly predictable. The intriguing aspect of someone as good as Hayes, though, is her studiously nonchalant manner with a tune. Drenched in the fallout of US influences (Carly Simon here, Mary Chapin Carpenter there), Hayes smartly pulls together various reference points and makes them very much her own. Accomplished songs such as My God, 14 Days, Over And Over, I Can't Find Love and Back Of My Hand are further enhanced by a voice which is the personification of cute graciousness.
The only glitch was a midsection lull, where the bolstering textures of the band went AWOL, leaving the singer alone and not a little bit vulnerable. Aside from this, Hayes is bang on the money and clearly a great singer/songwriter in the making.
