A few artists I loved in my student days are making even better music now.

Skye Edwards is one of them. No longer a part of the trip-hopping trio Morcheeba - there seem to be some unresolved emotional issues - Skye was sensational as she launched her international tour with a gig in her former home town.

Now writing her own lyrics, the songs are still ethereal but are more upbeat and uplifting.

Instead of tunes that sounded like they were written in a laid-back smoky haze, Skye sings about love, identity and relationships.

Skye famously met the other two members of Morcheeba, brothers Paul and Ross Godfrey, when she approached their friend at a party to ask for some rizlas.

A decade later, smoking was banned for the duration of her set.

Skye, 31, bantered throughout the show, playing new songs alongside Morcheeba favourites The Sea and Blindfold and a cover of Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz.

Childlike and adorable, as she talked between songs, she slipped from her natural South-East London accent to imitate a Southern American drawl and an upper-class English voice.

Skye, who has been replaced twice by the Godfreys as they carry on with Morcheeba, says she never planned to leave the band.

She joked about her exit, which took place two years ago to enable the brothers to work on individual projects.

As she stumbled over a guitar chord, audience in her palm, she imagined we would be calling for her to "bring back Ross Godfrey".

But we weren't. Skye is a far brighter star as a soloist with her own musical control.

Her album is out on February 27 with the first single Love Show. Her tour reaches London in May.

She was supported by two a cappella singers from Peggy Sue And TPirates, whose breathy, bluesy voices stopped the room with a sultry performance reminiscent of Peggy Lee. They deserved to be rebooked. The second act was Jont, a talented LA-based guitarist and singer with echoes of Tim Booth.