Music review: Paolo Nutini

Published on Tuesday 19 May 2009 19:06

PAOLO NUTINI **** ALHAMBRA, DUNFERMLINE

AS THE band cued up another track from his forthcoming sophomore album Sunny Side Up , Paolo Nutini politely asked of the crowd: "Afore we start, z'it okay wi' you if we play a' these new songs?" Despite his pronounced Italian good looks and the unashamed worship of Americana in his singing voice and lyrics, Nutini remains deeply, disarmingly Scots at heart. In middle age, possibly long after the world has forgotten his name, he'll still pack out venues like this around his home country.

With Atlantic Records' seemingly concerted effort to transform him from boyish singer-songwriter to a man who deserves a place among the classic rock canon, though, Nutini and obscurity seem unlikely to meet for a long time yet. Old favourites New Shoes, Jenny Don't Be Hasty, an acoustic These Streets and particularly the charming Last Request are memorable pop songs, but those new numbers' rich arrangements and distinctive vocal performances stand out further than any sense of calculated radio suitability.

Playing before a grand swagged curtain and a band who looked like they'd just stepped ashore from a Mississippi steamer, the waist-coated, brown-brogued Nutini essayed grizzled Dr John swamp-blues during a cover of Willie Dixon's Mellow Down Easy , pure hoedown country throughout Growing Up Beside You , and followed up an apoplectic, fist-shaking raindance during Coming Up Easy with a version of the Coasters' Down in Mexico. His gruff, old-man voice is still an acquired taste, but this evidence suggests that these new songs have been designed to eke every last drop of soulfulness from it.