9.15pm – H Hawkline
Our evening opens with the man known to the registrar of births, deaths and marriages as Huw Evans and whose recent album, In the Pink of Condition, received a glowing four-star review from Harriet Gibsone. H Hawkline places himself in the lineage of softly psychedelic Welsh mavericks that includes Euros Childs and Gruff Rhys. Hawkline said recently: “They make a record, put it out and while they’re working that one, they’re also working on the next one … I think that’s a really healthy way to be. I think you should always feel you can write a better album or make a better thing, because if you thought the thing you just made was the best you would ever do, then you would just … stop.” He’s the perfect start to the evening, but don’t leave after his set, because it’s only going to get better.
10.15pm – Tobias Jesso Jr
We strongly suspect this will be one of the last chances you get to see Tobias Jesso Jr in a venue this small: bet on this man playing theatres before the year is out, and for this kind of intimacy to be a thing of the past. Now, Alexis Petridis had his doubts about Jesso’s debut album, Goon: “‘Could I ask you on a date? We’ve never kissed before so it might be strange,’” coos Jesso, rather inviting the reaction: oh, for God’s sake, mate, you’re 29 years old. Do us all a favour and grow a pair.” But I’m going to disagree with Alexis. Goon was a bit of a delight, bringing to mind some obvious names from the 1970s (Harry Nilsson, Paul McCartney, a less acerbic Randy Newman), as well as some less known (such as the sweet-toothed pop of Emmit Rhodes). Hawkline told me earlier this year that Goon is dominated by piano ballads because he was pretty much learning the piano as he wrote the songs. The space in the song Hollywood, he said, came from the care he had to take moving his hands between the chords. He’s rather more competent now – he occupied a few minutes before our interview vamping it up on the piano in the cafe – and this show might be a treat.
11.15pm – Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires
Lee Bains is hardly a household name, but this is the set I’m most looking forward to on Friday evening. A word of warning, though: you might wish to look away if you find any of the following concepts unappealing: 1. Rock’n’roll. 2. Southern rock. 3. Raucousness with guitars. Dereconstructed, their Sub Pop record, was one of my favourite trad-rock albums of last year, with a thrilling blend of punk energy and southern swing. And Bains is an intriguing lyricist – he doesn’t opt for the security of waving the flag and praising his homeland (he cares enough about them that the words have been posted on the group’s website). Dereconstructed was full of anger about the state of the US – and not just about the usual targets. Flags, for example, contrasted the hysteria about Islamist terrorism with the willingness of so many Americans to accept terrorism against those who support a woman’s right to make her own decisions about fertility: “Senior year, you could go deaf from all the talk of terrorists and Muslim fundamentalists. / And I thought it strange in a town where so-called believers blew up women’s clinics we had the gall to act so offended.” There is, however, the possibility that on stage those words will take second place to those avalanches of guitars.
12.15am – the Bohicas
Closing the night, in the slot reserved for bands who can get a well-oiled audience on their feet, it’s the Bohicas, who are on the Domino Recording Company roster. I saw them last year at the Other Voices festival in Derry, where they were taut and loud and exciting. It’s no surprise that they’ve gone on to play with the likes of Drenge and Royal Blood. “We’re a rock band. Not Nickelback. You know the vibe. It’s not dead-eyed, empty-souled music. It comes from the guts, and is not meant to be dissected and understood,” frontman Dominic McGuinness has said. So no more dissection.
• The Guardian stage is at the Dome Studio theatre, Brighton. Box office: 0870 264 3333. The Great Escape festival is 14-16 May in Brighton.
