It had not escaped Tom Baxter's notice that the moon was full on the night of his first full-scale London headliner. "There's a blue moon this month," he said dreamily, provoking inexplicable gusts of applause. Great - another brooding singer/songwriter who has figured out that love is a funny thing.

Tom Baxter's star is rising fast, carrying him neatly into a genre that has trebled in size ever since David Gray showed there was money in moping. On his debut, Feather and Stone, the Cornish-bred artist sounds like just the sort of daydreamer that makes teen mags gush. In the flesh, though, he warrants respect, and he is enough of an alpha male to run a tight, imaginative show. Accompanied by not just the usual bass and drums but also a sequin-clad string quartet, Baxter was a commanding, husky presence. Only the epic ballad Half a Man, in which he figuratively prostrated himself at his loved one's feet, saw a glimpse of Tom the wet romantic. Trembling as he sang "I'm half a man, if a man is what I am", he seemed close to collapse for the song's entire 10-minute duration.

The string section added texture to warm, Jeff Buckley-esque vocals that occasionally exploded into an impressive falsetto. The slinky jazz feel of Wings suited him; so did the surprising, skiffle-ish jauntiness that perked up Joanna. Such surprises characterised the show: although Baxter's lyrics traverse familiar lovelorn territory, his mode of presentation wasn't the acoustic strumming you'd expect. The single My Declaration was almost operatic in its pairing of Baxter's soaring voice and a dramatic violin arrangement, and the closing Don't Let Go built a sense of gothic tension. All credit to that blue moon for an above-average show.

· At King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow (0141-221 5279), tonight. Then touring.