Essex-born singer songwriter Tom McRae has always maintained a reasonable, if not huge, following in his decade of releasing records. Those who like him tend to have been devoted to him since he first appeared, and those who don’t have totally ignored him. Having never produced a track that bothered the upper reaches of the charts, he has always sold just enough records to make a new one. Now promoting his fifth long player, McRae still remains enough of a draw to pack the upstairs room of the O2 Academy.

One thing has remained consistent about McRae since the release of his debut in 2000 – darkness. His lyrics and melodies are unremitting in their bleakness, most of the songs he plays tonight are either soaked in spite or laden with regret, offering not even a hint of a silver lining. Clad entirely in black, McRae begins his set alone before being joined by a six-piece band for most of the gig. The set itself is very good, he plays about half of the tracks from new album, Alphabet of Hurricanes, which doesn‘t diverge from his mournful tradition, but seems more stripped down and less orchestral than his earlier material. The rest is plucked from his back catalogue, with Boy with the Bubblegun, My Vampire Heart and Karaoke Soul resonating particularly strongly.

Given the despondent content of his material, McRae is surprisingly jovial between songs. He jokes with the crowd, asks for suggestions on novelty merchandise and even organises the crowd to help him out on backing vocals on fan favourite End of the World News. Positively chirpy, he even allows himself two encores at the end of the gig, which apparently never usually happens. Let’s hope he doesn’t cheer up too much; misery has served him pretty well so far.