Live review: Gwyneth Herbert - Hippodrome Casino

It's a double-edged honey trap of a song, an awesome combination of punchy vocals and intimate lyrics and this singer, songwriter and musician scales ever greater heights in an evening that passes all too swiftly.

Herbert, equally at home on her green ukelele, melodica or kazoo, has got the stage swagger of a friendly hellcat.

But the cool, suave demeanour belies her roots in kicking jazz-blues, beat poetry, primal scat, slave chant and funk.

Herbert's backed by Al Cherry, whose guitar intuitively reflects Herbert's lyrics, double bassist Sam Burgess adding the heart tones to Herbert's pitch, and Dado Pasqualini on percussion, who delicately underpins the drama on each song.

There are numbers on random encounters with people then and now, like the cute-sounding Annie's Yellow Bag or the 50 Fishguard ladies, true Welsh heroines who lifted up their petticoats to frighten off French sailors in the Napoleonic Wars.

Other songs draw inspiration from those she has admired - US beat poet Fran Linderman - or fancied, like the tall and skinny geek in jeans for whom she lusts.

Herbert is a drifter who takes us on a journey, and as the gig progresses she shows ever increasing command, switching effortlessly from ballad to folk, jazz-blues, soul, gospel, lullaby and love song.

A capella, her great vocal range is even more in evidence, from the floating Sweeter to the husky and sarcastic Put Your Mouth Where Your Money Is.

As she moves on to the piano, the fast-paced mood of the set changes.

The calmness of Narrow Man and Lorelei are mesmerising and in these sublime moments there's an emotional release, during which the whole world seems to go still.

Runs until September 29, box office: (020) 7769-8866. Gwyneth Herbert's album All The Ghosts is available on the Naim Edge Label.