Anyone who turned up early for Mojo favourite John Grant’s Komedia show in March received an unexpected treat from support act Sea Of Bees.

The Sacramento singer-songwriter, born Julie Baenziger was a confident and engaging figure on stage, happily sharing stories with the appreciative crowd between solo renditions of tracks from her debut album Songs For The Ravens.

Now she is bringing her first headlining tour to Brighton, with a show at The Hope accompanied by multiinstrumentalist Amber Padgett, having played five slots at last month’s Glastonbury Festival.

“When I was on stage playing at Glastonbury they said to keep it short and sweet,” she says as she prepares to play a show in Norwich.

“It was a small, intimate crowd, so I felt like I could share. I like that shared consciousness, I feel comfortable.

I’m starting to learn how to make myself comfortable in front of a larger crowd – at the moment I tend to close my eyes!”

There is a certain shyness when Baenziger talks – married to the slight slur in her words which comes across in her recorded vocals – making some of her speech feel almost murmured and hard to follow.

The daughter of a conservative, church-going man, she only really becomes animated and more confident when she talks about the music she missed out on in her childhood.

“My dad didn’t like rock ’n’ roll,” she says.

“He’s a great man, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he saw what we wanted. One of my friends introduced me to REM and The Beatles, and my friend John [Baccigaluppi, who produced her debut album] has been a big influence on my life with the music he plays me.”

Among the artists and albums she now loves are Bonnie Prince Billy, Rilo Kiley’s The Execution Of All Things, Beck’s Sea Change and Sparklehorse’s It’s A Wonderful Life – as she says of the latter: “It breaks my heart – how could I not want to make music like that?”

Her debut album mixes acoustic performances with beautifully built orchestrations combining electronic and acoustic instruments, as on tracks such as Marmalade, Gnomes and Willis, with Baenziger’s voice to the forefront.

It has been described by music website The Quietus as “a warming collection of tales about a young woman’s discovery of the world”, a summation she agrees with.

“It was a whole new world for me and I was experiencing it in new surroundings, the city life,” she says.

“Every album is like a new journal.

“John had a big effect on what the album sounded like – when people say it sounds like this from that album I have no idea. I just recorded the song and he mixed it. I do what I like and see how it turns out.”

She is already making plans for a second album, which she hopes to have completed by December. The focus is likely to be her girlfriend.

“It’s dedicated to her,” she says shyly. “She’s my best friend and my soul mate.

“The album is about her and about me and feeling those experiences, those certain thoughts that are growing in a relationship – being in a relationship, being out of one. It’s painful but it’s good.

“She’s the most beautiful thing I have ever... it’s so hard to talk about!”

Having recorded her first album quickly she wants to keep the pace going.

“If you stop I think you don’t get anything done,” she says. “I still want to pick up my guitar and write music.

I guess you’re not inspired if you stop, and I like to be inspired.”

Support from Early Ghost and Justin Saltmeris.

*Starts 7.30pm, tickets £7.50. Call Resident on 01273 606312 or Rounder Records on 01273 325440.