David’s Lyre @ The Jericho Tavern, Oxford 21.02.12

Some context is important here in this story, as David’s Lyre (Paul Dixon) had been with a label for two years, but the two sides were unable to get the album released that was made with the help of producer Luke Smith (Foals, Slow Club) and Tom Fuller (Patrick Wolf) during this time. So after recently parting ways, the album has been released through the Bandcamp website on a ‘pay as much as you want’ deal, with Dixon also announcing that this would be the last of the David’s Lyre project. What this also means is that this Dixon is touring solo with just his guitar, a couple of mics and an echo pedal, leaving behind the rich instrumentation of the album.

While at times Dixon was almost verging on being apologetic about this scenario, his show was completely captivating. Put simply he was performing the nucleus of his music, and it showed the strength of his abilities as a writer and performer that it still sounds wondrous in its simplest form.

He opened up with a couple of tracks from the new album, ‘This Time’ and ‘English Rose’ which feature slightly off-kilter guitar riffs wrapped around Dixon’s echoey vocals which is pretty much de rigueur throughout. His vocal sound enraptured the audience; it’s a sound that is full of warmth and character.

The popular ‘In Arms’ from the 2011 EP of the same name got an airing too, with Dixon drifting off script to descend into a cloud of circular noise. A couple more tracks from his new album flew by in a lightning quick set and before the audience really had time to form an attachment, Dixon disappeared into the darkness, sadly as will David’s Lyre soon enough.