Tobias Jesso Jr., Shepherd’s Bush Empire

The spotlight certainly took its time to alight upon Tobias Jesso Jr. After four years playing bass in Canadian also-rans The Sessions, he wound up as backing musician for pop hopeful Melissa Cavatti. Attempts to become a backroom songwriter in Los Angeles floundered. Then, disaster struck – he was hit by a car, had his bike stolen during the incident and discovered the next day that his mother had been diagnosed with cancer. Retreating back to his family home without his musical equipment, he started to compose simple, heartfelt songs on his sister’s old piano. Eventually, at the age of 29, he broke through.
On debut record Goon, released earlier this year, Jesso Jr. appeared to the world as a fully-formed singer-songwriter, in the mould of post-breakup Lennon and McCartney or Harry Nilsson. His is an achingly emotional music, of the sort that feels like it could have been released anytime in the last forty years. Whether his work becomes as timeless as his influences remains to be seen, but some of his tracks already feel like standards. Live at the Empire, expect an intimate night of high passion, suffused with a warm retro glow and Jesso Jr.’s newly realized star power.