There's a botanical feel in the Bodega tonight as there a couple of mini privet globes on the merch table and on stage pot plants of the ornamental, not pharmacological, variety next to the keyboards. This is the second night of a tour promoting Emma-Lee Moss' (songwriter and lead vocals in Emmy the Great) new album 'Second Love' which was released yesterday.

Opening with the familiar slide guitar of 'Dinosaur Sex' from second album 'Virtue', which compares a personnel relationship to the ultimately futile sex between dinosaurs. The set tonight has a number of tracks from the new album and it's apparent that this new stuff has a fuller sound and more electric guitar, samples and keyboards compared with the mainly acoustic 'First Love' her first album released in 2009. A couple of new tracks 'Dance W Me' and 'Part of Me' are both pretty catchy, simple tunes sung by Emma in her characteristic clean and precise vocals.

In her warm and chatty style, we get a social/ political lesson linking Lord Elgin (he of the marbles), five cities containing SoHo districts, the particular one in Hong Kong being South of Hollywood St where her parents live, being referenced in new track 'Social Halo'. The Phoenix brothers River and Joachim get mentions in another new track 'Phoenixes'; as Emma remembers her teenage bedroom wall posters. 'We Almost Had A Baby' from 'First Love' gets a response of appreciative recognition from the audience.

A faulty sampler lead moves the great 'Paper Forest (in the afterglow of rapture)' up the set list as the band play catchup with the rapid tongue twisters which form the lyrics.

The main set finishes with 'Swimming Pool' the spooky, floaty track released over a year ago and first heard by this reviewer at Deershed Festival last year.

The three track encore features Emma going solo with electric guitar for 'Edward is Deadward', 'Canopies and Grapes/ Canapés and Drapes' depending upon the version you know, during the intro for which Emma discusses updating of lyrics as they consists of two bands who have split and reformed at least once, a TV program which has long finished and musicians who are no longer with us, and that her 2016 version should probably include Netflix and Adele “who should be Queen, we should all be ruled by Adele”, and to finish 'The Easter Parade'.

Despite yet to be familiar with the majority of the set, it's clear from this personable show tonight that Emmy the Great's sound has grown and matured more than the decoration on the merch table is likely to any time soon. Based upon a first listen new album 'Second Love' will be spending a lot of time on my digital turntables this year.

Alisdair Whyte

Emmy The Great website