A lot of women turned up to see Matt Corby at the Toff In Town. The ovary count was overwhelming as the crowd jostled about to secure a position with a decent view of Corby’s new beard. The strange combination of Australian Idol fan-girls and 30-something easy listeners were so eager to see the young man that they sat through both the supports before the refurbished Idol star finally made it to the stage.

Ben Abraham was an impressive first support and managed to rouse the seated crowd into sing-a-longs and plenty of twee moments, particularly as he serenaded his childhood toy with Randy Newman’s ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ on the ukulele. He played one other cover, a medley of Rozalla’s ‘Everybody’s Free’ and Gotye’s ‘Heart’s A Mess’, which withstood his vocal acrobatics surprisingly well and won the abiding support of the audience for the rest of his time on stage. His John Mayer-esque vocals and apparent R&B influences serve to adorn what feels like an incomplete set of songs; the groundwork is appealing and undeniably catchy but lacks substance. Abraham is obviously more comfortable on ukulele than guitar, and was accompanied for parts of the set by guitarist Sam Bentley, who lent some body to the simple sound. It was a solid set with infectious melodies, simple lyrics, and the kind of upbeat, self-effacing banter that makes it hard to dislike the guy.

Tara Simmons was a victim of unfortunate timing as the previously attentive crowd sitting on the floor for Abraham’s set were ushered into standing position as she graced the stage. It was all too obvious who people were really there to see, and much of her set was talked over the top of. Despite this, the performance was tight and she persevered with banter, introducing and describing each song. This was fairly unnecessary since Simmons’ lyricism was straightforward and needed little explanation. Throughout the set were traces of similar artists like New Buffalo, The Books, Sufjan Stevens, Cornelius and Joni Mitchell, but they were faint and never overpowered the performance itself. While the instrumental and pre-programmed tracks sounded full and inviting, the vocal mix was slightly abrasive and made it harder to appreciate the clearly personal and sensitive subject matter of her songwriting. However, rather than being refreshingly uncomplicated, the songs, particularly ‘Everybody Loves You’, felt impassive and facile at times. But she was wearing a shiny, gold, Klimt painting-looking dress, and that should count for something.

Corby made the crowd wait a while before ambling serenely onstage with his band comprising of drummer and comically expressionless bass-player. The first song was a rambling ambient-folk epic, which in other situations might alienate an audience. But follow it immediately with new single ‘My False’, and all previous self-indulgent sins were forgiven – plus the crowd seemed to know the words already. This gently stomping folk-hymn has a deftly whistled melody that puts it somewhere in between the Vegemite song and ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’, on the road to redemption. ‘My False’ is a step forward for Corby – it feels like a complete song where others do not, and is foot-tapping enough to gain some major airplay.

His voice evokes a slew of influences; Jeff Buckley (duh), Bon Iver, the Felice Brothers, Josh Ritter, Angus Stone, Nina Simone, Fionn Regan, and in his quieter moments, Antony Hegarty.The Buckley comparison has been made before, and as long as Corby continues to belt like him it will remain valid. Where the set fell short was really in the substance of the songs; much of his vocals felt warbled and inarticulate, and even when the lyrics were audible they were incoherent. That aside, the Sydney-sider has some serious ability. His voice reaches from the heavens to the floorboards in a clean swoop and his guitar skills, while occasionally lost in the waves of reverb and woozy harmonies, are impressive.

It’s all too apparent that Corby is trying to get out from under the Idol shadow, and fair enough, but if he is to move onwards he has to accept that occasionally he is going to write songs that people like. They will become popular.  And this is not a bad thing.