Review | Robert Vincent at The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea: 'Making melancholy sound fun'

And why not? If they’d only turned up for the headliner tonight, they would have missed out on Michael Baker’s set. Brighton-based Baker, on acoustic guitar, is joined by an associate on keys, and is leaning more into electronic textures since I last saw him.

He’s an artist well-worth your time.

Robert Vincent is joined by a five-piece band on this tour to promote his new album, Barriers, which isn’t actually out until June.

Before this show Vincent was an artist I knew the name of, but not much else. Given his reputation and the numerous awards which have been thrown his way, I thought it high time I rectified this oversight.

Vincent tells us he’s suffering from “man flu”, which becomes a running joke for the evening, alongside repeatedly apologising for the miserable nature of much of his songs.

But we’re heavily into Americana and country turf here, and as Vincent puts it, very much tongue in cheek: “Country's too happy now – someone's dog needs to die, or their wife...”

Any noticeable effects from said man-flu are negligible.

He breaks us in with a couple of tracks from his last studio album, 2020’s In This Town You’re Owned – Album of the Year winner at the UK Americana Awards.

Cuckoo rides an organ riff under Vincent’s tale of heartbreak, before he heads back to the more up-tempo Conundrum from his debut, Life in Easy Steps.

Blue, also from Life... is devastating – from its delicate opening, it slowly unfurls into a stunning full band workout.

But there’s a new album to plug, and midset, Vincent plays several tracks in a row from Barriers.

He introduces one, Circumstance of Ignorance with: “It's been known to make men cry, so I'm just warning you.” Its sparse arrangement with just Vincent on acoustic, alongside keys and bass is sublime. While I didn’t quite cry, I wouldn’t be surprised if some did.

And when he asks if we like the new songs, to be greeted with cheers, he jokes: “You must be on some heavy medication...”

This must also be one of the only guys who can turn a child’s school sticker saying “I got hurt today, but I’m alright now” into another masterpiece of melancholy.

Of course there’s a place for sad songs, but it would be easy for a gig packed with them to become a downer. It’s testament to Vincent and co’s skills and charisma that it is instead a rather beautiful experience,

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