Norma Jean Martine’s drive is not in question. Rejected by American Idol and the casting directors of Broadway musicals in her teens, she moved from her native New York to London and has racked up co-writing credits on songs as varied as the title track on a Ronan Keating album and an Italian Eurovision entry.
It’s a scattergun CV to make you wary, but thankfully Martine possesses a formidable talent. Having shoehorned a full band into a space the size of a small bedroom in this tiny venue, she ploughs through a self-penned set that is bewilderingly eclectic and rarely less than engaging. Her default mode is knowing, husky-voiced blues-pop in the Joss Stone vein, yet the title track of her debut album, Only in My Mind, is a rumination on fantasy sex with a distant object of desire that would enhance any Taylor Swift set list. She teeters on the bombastic then cannily reins it back in: With You has a bruised, powerhouse vocal reminiscent of Amy Winehouse.
She’s too slick and her lyrics too prone to cliche to sound truly heart-on-sleeve and yet she fully inhabits a yearning tribute version of George Michael’s Freedom. Hang My Hat, a teasing invite to a one-night stand, could be Lana Del Rey essaying a power ballad. She closes a fitful set belting out I’m Still Here, a song she co-wrote with Burt Bacharach, like a Vegas veteran. Norma Jean Martine may not yet know where she is going, but you wouldn’t bet against her getting there.
