Well, you can do what you want to. I tried to do what I could.

[venta]

It feels like forever since I last went to Totally Acoustic. Which is a small, monthly pub night putting on singers, musicians and poets who all play completely unamplified. It's run by the irrepressible, friendly and ultimately rather geeky MJ Hibbett and (edited versions of) the shows are always available as podcasts if you like that kind of thing.

I parked in our usual seat, with a pint, and waited for proceedings to start. A very short set from MJ Hibbett, followed by Jenny Lockyer.

I'd never heard of her before, and she bounced about during a short set between scripted-sounding jokes, lines that didn't quite come off, and being amazing. Once she got going, she plays the guitar decently and sings really well.

And to be honest, more people should mash up Blur and Les Mis to sing songs about mice.

Try it: Ticket To Ride (a straight cover, because I can't find any of the songs I wanted to link to. I really recommend You Make Me Steal Things if you get the chance to hear it.)

Matt Tiller was next to the stage bit of floor over there. I hadn't heard of him, either, and he also seemed a bit uncertain and a bit inclined to veer towards comedy that didn't quite work.

Although I suspect his uncertain stage presence is part of his schtick, it had a certain awkwardness that I find a bit unnerving. He was funny, great for a support but probably not someone I'd seek out.

Try it: High as a Kite (one of the more serious songs)

As long-time readers will know, I've been banging on about The Indelicates for years. The central singing/song writing duo of Simon and Julia is all that remains of the original band I banged on about, and replacements have come and gone. And Simon and Julia have been having a baby, so the three piece that showed up to Totally Acoustic was, ahem, not over-rehearsed.

Anyway, they are still hugely entertaining performers. Even if they did try and stitch songs from three disparate concept albums together into a coherent narrative ("So there's this bloke called Job, and he's in space, with David Koresh..."). They still make music that sounds like no-one else.

Try it: I Am Koresh (And if you like it, I highly recommend the entire David Koresh Superstar, which is downloadable for pay-what-you-like)

As soon as the Indelicates were off stage we were out the pub, round the corner, and on a bus heading up Pentonville Road. By the time we arrived, Withered Hand was already on stage.

I saw Withered Hand at Indietracks in 2014 and thought they were amazing. Afterwards, I searched for tracks online and found everything a bit meh. I think the problem is partly that Withered Hand is really a him, not a them. He sometimes plays live with a backing band, but the recordings are more solo-y. Without the gutsy sound of the band, the songs are just a bit limp.

Yesterday, I was streaming tracks off bandcamp and thinking, meh, is this really worth rushing up to the Lexington for? And then we got there and the full band was on stage, and the answer was a resounding yes. (I'm not the only one who thinks like this: YouTube's first completion on searching is "withered hand and band".)

Withered Hand is from Scotland, but the music has a real American edge to it (despite the very Britishness of the word-play in the lyrics). The twang of the guitar, the harmonies the backing singer puts in, the sweep of the choruses all make me feel I should be listening while driving a convertible along a long, straight road. With the roof down.

Withered Hand himself seemed to be losing his voice, and the resulting croak put him on a continuum almost exactly half way between d_floorlandmine and Johnny Vegas. But with the backing band, he's probably the closest to a regular rock band I've seen at the Lexington this week.

Try it: Heart Heart or Religious Songs