Monday 19/02/07 Tom McRae @ Cargo, London

Since releasing his critically lauded debut album in 2001, Tom McRae’s career has been one seemingly stuck in perpetual reverse gear. His two follow-ups, 2003’s ‘Just Like Blood’ and 2005’s ‘All Maps Welcome’ were excellent, but never quite living up to the hype, or the sales figures of that Mercury Prize nominated first record. As audiences declined, it became noticeable in McRae’s live shows that a tinge of bitterness was creeping in, the successes of far-inferior writers like James Blunt were damaging this prodigiously talented miserablist’s pride, as well as his bank balance.

So here, at a fans-only gig to promote his fourth album, there is a palpable sense that this may be a final throw of the dice for McRae. Cargo is still packed by Tom-worshippers, singing along to every word, but you get the feeling that even they know that he may have overstayed his welcome in the last chance saloon. So it’s a surprise, then, to see a relaxed figure in a leather jacket bound on stage and launch into a very muscular set, backed by a full band and cellist. 

Gone was the hand-wringing of many previous gigs (a particularly morose set at the same venue around the launch of his last record springs to mind), replaced by an obvious sense of enthusiasm and humour. Tearing straight into a new straight-down the line pop number, ‘Bright Lights’, this is the sound of an artist seemingly unshackled by past defeats. And, just in case fans were a little taken aback by this new, polished rocker in front of them, after another new song  McRae segues into the opening track of his debut record, ‘You Cut Her Hair’, a black-as-pitch song about stalking sinful lovers.