Tindersticks & Villagers, Manchester Cathedral

is the nom de plume of Irishman Conor J O’Brien, a new Domino Records signing and during a short set demonstrates evidence of the kind of quality associated with the label. His voice is soaring and powerful, his guitar playing spiky and clattery and his lyrics detailed and evocative. He is usually accompanied by a live band but tonight we get to hear the songs stripped back to their original form. One to watch certainly when his debut album is released in May.

Looking at the sea of bald heads scattered across the Cathedral audience, there is strong proof to suggest a faithful Tindersticks fanbase which has followed them from their early splash in the mid ‘90s to the present day. Outside the venue between bands however there are many fans of a more tender age, smoking roll-ups in long overcoats, probably with well-thumbed Camus novels in their inside pockets.

The band really deliver tonight. Stuart Staples is a captivating frontman who grabs your attention and keeps it held tightly with his still peerless baritone and lyrics that wear their heart proudly on their finely tailored sleeves. The rest of the band, which has changed variably over the years, perfectly compliment his lovelorn musings. They provide deft cello and saxophone lines, the pitter-patter of brushes hitting loosely tuned drums and subtle flourishes of piano along with electric guitar, whether tremeloed or E-bowed, from fellow long-term Tinderstick Neil Fraser.

Highlights tonight include ‘Harmony Around My Table’, a nugget from their latest LP for 4AD, which finds the band in a buoyant, soul influenced mode with the rhythm section playing tighter than a Stax revue, along with ‘Can We Start Again?’ which even sees some rare dancing from the front rows and a clapalong. They are capable of raising a smile after all, never more than in new track ‘Peanuts’, which in an alternative universe would soundtrack an advertising campaign for any leading snack manufacturer.

On the whole it’s intelligent and thoughtful music. In a world where the traditional film score in the mould of Morricone or Mancini seems to be a dying art, replaced by the Various Artists soundtrack, Tindersticks continue to keep alive the classic cinematic sound which they have marked out as their own in modern rock, with zero regard for what is transient and irrelevant. And we should be glad.