Thursday 25/10/07 Iron & Wine, Alexi Murdoch @ Academy 2, Manchester

Warming up any crowd is almost always a thankless task, when there’s drinks to be bought and talk to be talked, usually the only ones left listening are those refusing to surrender their cramped view at the front of the stage or security barrier. But tonight little known Alexi Murdoch has a command of the Academy 2’s audience that some headliners would kill for, with attendees respectfully silent as he showcases stripped down tracks from his debut solo effort, ‘Time Without Consequence’.

The Glaswegian has a touch of the soulful folk of fellow Scot John Martyn at his most coherent or the introverted observations of Nick Drake, even down to his dextrous, acoustic finger picking and untroubled mood, best heard during his romantic reading of ‘Orange Sky’, stripped of it’s studio sheen to just voice, a tapped beat on his guitar, and airy chords. He may have started the evening with few Mancunian friends, but he leaves with many, setting the tone perfectly for Samuel Beam’s eight strong collective Iron & Wine.

Despite his steady growing influence amongst an alternative-folk hungry crowd there’s a refreshing modesty to Iron & Wine’s performance and stage set up- with no back drop, no fancy lighting rigs- just excellent musicianship and focused expert songcraft.

Opening with the loving shuffle of ‘Lovesong of the Buzzard’ from his third full-length effort ‘The Shepherds Dog’ (as is most of the evenings set), Beam’s delicate, whispered vocal is offset by some considerate backing from the various extra hands on stage, including viola, accordion, percussion flourishes and some beautifully shimmering pedal steel guitar work.

Whilst most recent records have been significantly cheerier affairs, when the fully-maned frontman slips back into those bare, quietly devastating numbers there isn’t a stony heart unaffected, best evidenced tonight during emotionally charged tellings of ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth’, ‘Resurrection Fern’ and stand out track ‘Sea & the Rhythm’.

With such an extensive back catalogue there would have been a number of groans if he’d played for double the length of his set, but few of those here will be seeing a performance as heart warming and precious as tonight’s for sometime to come.