Johnny Bramwell (I Am Kloot), The Empire

Last night was a fabulous intimate gig at The Empire with Johnny Bramwell from I Am Kloot who is taking a stripped down acoustic show across the UK and Ireland to road-test new material from their as-yet-untitled fourth album which is due out some time soon.

Tables were laid out with candles and the lights were turned down low giving the place a feel like you were in a safe place as a storm raged outside. Previous candle gigs have not proved strong on audience turn-out possibly due to it being on a Sunday and I remember seeing Patrick Wolf a couple of years ago play to no more than a dozen people although it proved to be a fantastic night.

As the warm-up act took to the stage, there were around 30 people nicely scattered about making the room seem fuller but adequately filled. A local duo whose name I cannot recall rattled through 4 songs of dubious quality. The will of the gods were truly against them as the lead singer's lead fell out on one song and his string broke during the next.

Bramwell took to the stage immediatly after their last song finished and after introducing himself, launched into 'Storm Warning' from their first LP. In fact, first album songs seemed to be the mainstay of the performance with two or three nearly finished tunes from their as yet unreleased album albeit with one or two choruses left unwritten.

The audience was overtly quiet during the performance which was jokingly picked up on by Johnny although the applause and encouragment between songs was strong and loud. The night ended all too soon however thanks to an AC/DC cover band playing in the basement but the audience got their money's worth and I'll certainly be back in the near future if the band come to showcase the new material.