Midway through support band Clayhill’s set, the door leading from dressing band to stage at Shepherd Bush’s plush Bush Hall opens and Kathryn Williams, guitarist David Scott and celloist Laura Reid exit. They sit down at the side of the stage to watch the rest of their support’s performance. No one notices. Or if they do, eyelids remain unbatted.

If you saw Williams on the street, she’d have a similar effect. It’s only when she opens her mouth that she becomes less Everywoman and more individual. When talking, she’s what the Americans call ditzy – breaking into sentences that meander into cul-de-sacs. When singing, she’s simply celestial. If Charlotte Church possesses an angelic voice, as her publicity people would like you to be believe, Williams croons like an archangel.

Kathryn’s set begins with ‘I Started A Joke’, taken off her recent Relations album of covers. The joke’s on the audience as this track was originally recorded by The Bee Gees. Not that you’d realize as Williams offers her interpretation of what she refers to as “such a quirky song”, being, as it is, “an odd shape and strange subject matter”.

Relations provides most of the songs at this gig, but Williams also introduces some new material. She claims to have two albums’ worth of tracks ready to record. If the likes of ‘Hollow’ are anything to go by, Williams looks like she’s going to continue to spoil her fans. For her encore, Clayhill return to play on another new song, ‘Baby Blues’ which Williams reveals she wrote for her sister. Such an endearingly personal track still manages to touch a nerve with the whole audience. We’re all relations of Williams tonight. It’s one swell family party.
(4½/5)

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