The latest contender for the male singer songwriter crown, listing influences from Crowded House to R.E.M and Leonard Cohen and who's played with The Frames, Martha Wainwright and Damien Rice, as well as opening for Van Morrison and Katie Melua.

Originally from Plymouth, Jamie spent two years honing his trade by playing the Irish club circuit and performing alongside the likes of Mundy, The Four Of Us, Glen Hansard and Gemma Hayes.

And some of the ‘blarney' has clearly rubbed off. The set opener - The Last Time sounds distinctly in Boyzone / West Life territory. Thankfully, much of the rest of the album falls more firmly in Damien Rice / Ray LaMontagne territory - focusing on dark Radio 2 friendly acoustic / piano based balladry, with Jamie's plaintive vocals having a markedly similar quality to those of Rice.

To be honest, I'm not a great fan of either, both sounding like they could do with getting out more, and Jamie's songwriting tends to be equally on the bleak side.

While it's undeniably well constructed, played and sung, and stands comfortably shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Rice and LaMontagne, I think it's unlikely that The Pull Of The Moon is going to appeal to rock fans.

To my ears, it's aimed at the female record buying market. If that's you're bag, you're most likely on the wrong website. But it wouldn't surprise me to see Jamie Lawson's name to be headlining sometime soon.

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Review by Pete Whalley