Huw Evans’ four-piece incarnation as H Hawkline took to the impressively refurbished stage at The Hope And Ruin to a smattering of applause, surprisingly backed by a Super Furry Animal on bass (Guto Pryce).

For an hour, he and his band charmed with a self effacing deadpan Welsh humour and enough tunes to never once feel repetitive.

Performing just two songs that were not from this month’s excellent In The Pink Of Condition album, including a over long, uncharacteristically droney opener described as a “self cover” of his previous band, The Meantimes, Evans was constantly charming.

The antique-sounding production style of Cate Le Bon that marks out the album might not have been translatable in a live setting, but the resulting sparseness gave his carefully crafted songs a chance to be appreciated for their structure.

Here was a songwriter equally on a par with Le Bon, Gorky’s or even the Super Furries themselves - to name only Welsh contemporaries - but with enough kook and quirk of his own to stand out.

Beneath his tousled hair, behind a borrowed guitar, Huw Evans and his H Hawkline gang won over the hearts of anyone not already converted to his cause.