Ed Harcourt, Tom Baxter, Damien Rice, and James Blunt- there has been a tidal wave of UK singer-songwriters recently.

This trend followed the loudly-proclaimed death of dance music and the success enjoyed by the likes of David Gray and Chris Martin.

Some of this new crop are deserving, others less so.

But the fact remains that the market for sensitive young men wielding acoustic guitars is becoming increasingly saturated.

So it says something about Tom McRae that he's managed to make a name for himself against such competition.

He did so in a relatively short time, too after first setting tongues wagging with his performance at the Meltdown Festival, he released a self-titled album in 2000 that promptly received both Mercury and Brit nominations.

Next thing we knew, he was touring with Dido.

His follow-up album, Just Like Blood, came out last year and won instant favour with the critics. Yes, there were the inevitable comparisons to David Gray, but most agreed that McRaes' was now a truly individual voice if there was a comparison to be drawn, many thought it was to more classic artists such as Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake.

McRae doesn't fully agree "I'm hoping people will start to say I'm a bit like Tom McRae," he says but he concedes: "As a shorthand for explaining to people what I might be like, it's better than 'a cross between Will Young, Gareth Gates and David Sneddon'. There are worse things to be compared to."

Clearly, McRae is happy to speak his mind, and it's this fact both having something to say and not being afraid to say it which marks him out from many of his contemporaries.

"If someone says sum yourself up in five words," he says, "I go: 'Angry, angry, angry, angry and tired' - I think if you lose your anger, then you're just not paying attention."

At the same time, however, he's well aware that a bleak worldview is very much part of the 'troubled troubadour' stereotype, and laughs off his own "doom, gloom and depression" as "the same old singer-songwriter b*******".

Able to pen a good tune, deeply passionate and able to laugh at himself too, McRae looks to have pretty much the whole package.

Now, having built up a reasonable following, he's ready to broaden his audience. Much as he claims to like the intimacy of small clubs, he's expressed a desire to take his music to 'millions' of fans. This could be your last chance to catch him before he becomes a genuine household name.

Starts 7.30pm, tickets cost £12.50. Call 01273 673311.