Back when Gemma Hayes's debut album Night On My Side was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, the female singer-songwriting revolution the UK underwent in the mid-2000s was yet to happen.

Judging by her solo performance at The Great Escape, Hayes had the musical talent to make it into the big leagues alongside the likes of Adele and Laura Marling, but perhaps lacked the songwriting skills.

Backed solely by an acoustic guitar almost the same size as her, Hayes admitted she was nervous as she hadn't played a solo show for a long time.

When she sang, her voice moved between the almost conversational style of Suzanne Vega, the purring of a seductive balladeer and the vocal power of a true chart-topping diva.

Her guitar style too was interesting, alternating between picking and chopped chords, filling in the gaps left by her absent band.

But the problem was most of her songs were of the heartfelt and slightly clichéd variety - throwing in lines about "Londontown" and singing how "she turned around and everything changed".

She has a genuine warmth and wit onstage - joking about how the dreary weather made her feel at home: "This is summer in Ireland", and introducing final song Evening Sun by saying, "I'll try to put you to sleep, in a good way".

If only she could get some of that wit into her songs she might be able to lift them a little from introspection, although Out Of Our Hands and aforementioned closing lullaby did stick in the head afterwards.