Adrian Crowley, Norabelle

As was pointed out elsewhere, the last time Adrian Crowley launched an album, he was suffering the effects of a cold Winter’s Sunday night in front of a crowd of around 30 people. Less than eighteen months on, there’s a noticeable stretch in the evenings and an even clearer spring in the Galway native’s step. The Sugar Club is also comfortably full of those who, in the intervening period, fell for the quiet magic of 2007’s Long Distance Swimmer and they prove a more than open audience for a night dominated by its imminent follow up Season Of The Sparks. Indeed by the time Crowley’s finishes up a second encore - giddily bemused by the wolf whistles - he warns of a 75-song back catalogue that could keep us here all night.

Having toured with violinist Emma Smith and viola player Vince Siprell (now collectively Geese) for the Long Distance Swimmer shows, Crowley has since  been slowly adopting members of fellow Dublin-based band Halfset to the point that three of its complement of four provide tonight’s backing. Among them is Stephen Shannon, who, as well as producing Crowley’s most recent work, oversaw the debut EP of tonight’s support Norabelle. The Dublin/Louth pair’s hushed acoustics are nice, if a little limited. It’s hardly surprising, at a MySpace glance, that Mark Kozelek is such an influence as Norabelle tread a very similar line of trying to keep very long, minimally played songs engaging. It all means that the set’s most entertaining moment arrives when a friend enquires during ’Lenin’ whether the song is indeed about Vladimir Lenin, only for Ken Clarke to immediately sing the next line of looking deep into someone’s eyes… Then again that kind of inadvertent, perfectly timed comedy would overshadow most performances, so we’re not dismissing the still-pretty-sweet Norabelle just yet.

Adrian Crowley can keep things minimal with the best of ’em but for tonight’s fleshed out set, there isn’t a disinterested punter plonked in any of the room’s plush seats. He starts, unfamiliarly, behind a keyboard for album opener Summer Haze Parade but is soon joined by drums, keys and second guitar. The move away from stringed accompaniment adds a different dimension, and only once to its detriment with The Wishing Seat not quite hitting the heights of its recording. Oh and those heights by the way provide one of the year’s best songs. Elsewhere, Jeff Martin’s extra guitar adds a chilling edge to Swedish Room and the four really get motoring on the new album’s title track and Photographing Lightning Strikes - the only pre-2007 song included. On his own too - whether covering Ivor Cutler and Daniel Johnson or delving back into the still sublime Long Distance Swimmer - Crowley remains a hugely engaging and rewarding performer, befitting his status as one of the country’s very best artists.

Hell, he could have easily have exhausted all 75 of those back catalogue songs too.