Live Review: Husky, The Trouble With Templeton, Bec Sandridge - Oxford Art Factory

It was a night of gentle, honest songs and narratives woven from melodies and rhythm. It was a night of Leonard Cohen and stories of heartbreak and journeys and creepy guys in backpackers' hostels in Europe. Husky, The Trouble With Templeton and Bec Sandridge were a perfectly matched trio of acts – each gave honest, passionate, immaculate performances that ran neatly into each other, like different facets of the same story.

Bec Sandridge is a solo artist who brings to mind the grand tradition of female singing and songwriting – from Joan Baez to Eva Cassidy to Gossling, Sandridge seems to have tapped into some of that vocal elegance, that flawless intensity. With an air of slight nervousness, she explained the narratives behind her songs – backpacking across Europe, writing about love – which seemed to enhance what is perhaps Sandridge's best quality: her authenticity. She had her audience totally entranced; the hush that she induced was completely out of place for a support act.

The Trouble With Templeton is the moniker of guitarist and vocalist Thomas Calder. His vocals are a little surprising, being slightly more effeminate than one might have been expecting. But don't be fooled – Calder is capable of an insane amount of power and integrity, sliding easily from a mournful, low whisper to a full, clear vocal. There's something striking about the beautiful, almost folklore-esque quality to his lyrics: “I think I left my heart at your house/ Between the cushions of your couch”. This review could have easily been filled with snippets of his gloriously poetic narratives, each stretched neatly over chords and melodies.

Husky have hit on a magic formula, with their mix of chiming cymbals and piano recital keys, combined with vibrant, rustic melodious guitar and gritty, woodsy rhythms making for beautiful, wholesome songs. This is furnished with gorgeous three-part harmonies; Husky's vocals are strongest when they are unified, burning with intensity. Then there are the lyrics themselves: mature, grown-up stories about life and living that seem like the kind of tales weaved by Irish storytellers in dark Dublin pubs (“We spent three weeks in a cheap hotel…”). Husky's strong, steady rhythm section sets them apart from other indie-folk acts in their class as it brings to their songs another dimension, a driven intensity.

From their blistering originals to their sing-along cover of Leonard Cohen's Lover, Lover, Lover, Husky guided the audience through an evening of poetic storytelling; of songs that intertwine beautiful words with beautiful melodies; of slow dancing and honest, wholehearted feelings.