For those who don’t live in Liverpool, Leaf is a teashop.  It combines two of my many obsessions: tea and music.  Ergo, it is one of my favourite venues.  Sipping a nice Gunpowder tea, a few tables back is an evolution in gig-going; though my usual habitat is the moshpit. The gig itself? Surprisingly good from yet another artist who is still, sadly under the radar.

Ollie Gosling is tonight’s support.  Built like a rugby prop, his voice is surprisingly mellifluous for one so big.  However, this usually gives away to the high-mountain howling that becomes repetitive after a few songs.  As for those, they are the tender tales of lost love you can hear in any alehouse.  The intros were mumbled – I had to disturb a roadie’s Facebook session to ask what he was called.  A few tweaks, the odd risk and he could be as famous as their Ryan.

Gemma Hayes arrives, dressed like Johnny Cash’s bookish younger sister.  As previous stated, this is another artist who is whistling in the dark; subject to the vicissitudes of the music business.  Mid-gig, she tells us she was approached by Louis Walsh; who advised her a) to stop writing songs and b) she needed a celebrity boyfriend.  Wrong on both counts, the songs are heartfelt, well-crafted and tuneful enough.

Gemma Hayes’ has that rare habit of writing music that is both sweet and painful at the same time.  One line (‘You said I was beautiful, but only when I’m lost’) really got to me, like a buck knife dripping in honey.  It’s music that is felt, not thought and that is a very rare and precious thing.  Ditto ‘Palomino’, which as it’s name suggests is a sleek, beautiful, undulating sexy beast of a tune.

This was her second gig with a band.  Normally, this would give them the spatial awareness of Liverpool’s midfield, but they reminded me of Bayern Munich: Always looking for each other and in a mood to create something beautiful.  And it’s always nice to see a drummer genuinely enjoying himself, pounding seven shades out of his kit.

If the gig peters out at just under an hour (plus encore), this is no bad thing. She was still brought back to the stage by an audience, banging the tables like public schoolboys.  If people make music that not enough of us pay attention to, that is a tragedy.  As Louis Walsh might say: ‘She’s different, she’s exciting and that’s what it’s all about!’

Kev McCready

@KevMcCready.