The performer treading the boards tonight, however, has made the transition from bi-curious pop star to mature singer-songwriter with seeming ease. Backed by Amy Langley on cello, the material, which crosses the breadth of his 16-year career, is a crystallisation of his grey skied, tower block muse.

It doesn't appear this way at first, however, as he segues together a brace of piano-led songs without once acknowledging the audience. This terseness is, perhaps, the result of first night nerves and as the set proceeds a little of his old star quality returns, although he remains far from talkative.

The lack of bon mots is no great loss as in dispensing with them he focuses attention on the music and his voice, which has matured and deepened into a supple, powerful instrument. As such it's more than capable of standing up to two 45-minute sets: the first com-prised of solo material and the second an audience-pleasing reappraisal of Suede numbers.

The first set emphasises the mono-paced nature of recently released second solo album, Wilderness, from which he draws heavily. Switching between piano and acoustic guitar, he plays proficiently but without real dynamic and to that end it works best when offering surprising vindictiveness (Back To You) or being slightly trippy (Funeral Mantra).

The second set starts to show dynamics but, sadly, some of the material simply doesn't work in this back-to-basics format. So Young is played in the style of someone subscrib-ing to Gardening Monthly while Trash needs to be brasher than this pale Hunky Dory imitation.

When the songs have been chosen to sympathetically reflect the format, however, the results are as romantically wind-blown as ever. By The Sea and Still Life require little tweaking to work with these limited arrangements but there are also a couple of unexpected gems: set closer The Asphalt World is bruised and passionate, even when stripped of Bernard Butler's prog rock soloing, while Europe Is Our Playground is successfully transcribed from austere synth to guitar.

Both sets have weaknesses but his showmanship and ability to connect emotionally with the listener ultimately prevail. For that alone, he deserves to be let back in from the musical wilderness.

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