Joshua Burnside has been quietly and mostly independently releasing records for almost a decade. This gig, a couple of weeks after the release of his sixth album was, he said, the biggest crowd he’d played to in London.

That album, Teeth of Time, dresses his often acoustic instrumentation and traditional folk elements with occasional found sound and spoken word samples, along with subtle electronics and ambience. That element was less present in the live presentation on show tonight – a full band, augmented Joshua’s intricate acoustic guitar work. I did miss the fiddle which is present throughout the album but generally preferred this sound to that on record, Joshua’s voice is immaculate, and was more to the fore in the mix – every word clear. And they are great lyrics – Teeth of Time deals with the transition from youth to what comes next, marriage, parenthood, driving a sleeping/sleepless baby around town, a sudden realisation that that older looking hand is not your fathers or grandfathers but your own,

A set of tunes in which Joshua played banjo, and (I believe) his brother switched from drum kit to bodhran sandwiched ‘Marching round the ladies’ – a lead single from the album and a nod to a more traditional folk sound.

Though the songs are mostly downtempo, and often quiet, some striking almost psychedelic moments were close to turning into more Freeform jams – this was a band with a lot of ideas to offer, and it was almost a shame they were reigned in before developing – an angle of Joshua’s sound I’d be interested to see develop in another context.

This was an excellent evening of music. The sound was immaculate throughout and the audience unusually silent and attentive for a standing gig – even at the back. It being a Tuesday evening and the close to £9 pints probably filtered out some of the gig chatters but the Assembly Hall is a great venue for this sort of gig. I believe it is still part of the borough council estate, and , naturally has been pressed into service as a commercial enterprise to shore up local authority finances, but the stage is high, guaranteeing a good view for all, and it has a lot more character than any phone network sponsored or private developer cultural offering could muster.