‘My whole life I’ve been compared to Karen Carpenter, pretty much on looks alone,” says Natalie Prass, whose thick, dark fringe and fresh face do impart a passing resemblance to the late singer. “When I found out who she was, I became obsessed.” The extent of her obsession is made plain in the new song that follows, Far from You, a lovelorn response to the Carpenters’ Close to You. Although Prass, seated behind a keyboard for this number – she’s normally upright, often with a guitar – sings in a higher register, her purity of tone and perfect diction mirror Carpenter’s.

Mostly, though, the Virginia-based songwriter sounds like herself during this show, the first of a tour promoting her second album, The Future and the Past. The forthcoming record has its work cut out for it; following up a critically adored debut would daunt anyone. Prass tackles that challenge by changing direction. Out, for the most part, goes string-filled, 60s-inspired lushness, and in come loping, bassy grooves that have her shuffle-dancing across the stage.

Fired up by “all the crap that’s going on in our country right now”, she emphatically fills the show with new material. It counters oppression with optimism: if the ship of state is sinking, she’ll make sure all aboard are swaying, with Ship Go Down’s feathery funk, which builds into a guitar-storm (Prass and her great band kick ass when they have to). On Sisters, she delicately trills, “Come on, nasty women” over a soundbed of Muscle Shoals-style soul. Rapture greets older songs Bird of Prey and Your Fool, and it feels as if Prass, confronting wrong with charm and sterling musicianship, is on the verge of something bigger.

• At Bau Waw, Brighton, on 26 April. Information: 01273 232442. At Band on the Wall, Manchester, on 27 April. Box office: 0161-832 1111.