Anna Calvi, Troxy

Anna Calvi, at once English rose and princess of Romantic Rock, has an impressive fan-club. Nick Cave ’s a member. So is Brian Eno, who has said she’s the 'best thing since Patti Smith '.  It’s a charge that would faze most young ingenues, but Calvi's different. Her voice is as confident as her guitar-playing is. She’s surprisingly tiny, but she’ll cut quite the figure when she plays at the Troxy on February 8: tapping into a long tradition of androgyny among musicians, she often pairs scarlet lipstick with the outfit of a male flamenco dancer.

You can tell by her look and the way she plays that Calvi means business, and the critics get it. She made it on to the BBC’s Sound of 2011 list for her eponymous debut album, which also got her a nomination for that year’s Mercury Prize . She’s been critically acclaimed in the UK, but she’s been a great commercial success in France.

This may have something to do with the raw emotion she invests in her music. ‘ Jezebel ’,for instance, her first single, was made famous by Edith Piaf. Calvi sings it with bravura, alternately whispering and warbling, ‘ If ever the Devil was born without a pair of horns / Itwas you, Jezebel, it was you.’ 

Drenched in her signature scarlet, Calvi can’t help but make you wonder: is she Jezebel?

Calvi is now touring in support of her second album One Breath (released early October). Calvi has said: ‘I like to create atmospheres... I like to try and create a whole world in the space of a song.’ One Breath certainly cinematic, but the album also experiments with unusual arrangements that jar the listener out of complacency. Calvi is a performer at heart, though: self-possessed, with a flinty stare and a penchant for the dramatic, she must be seen live. 

Ticket price: £23

Address and Map: 490 Commercial Road,  E1 0HX

Nearest Station: Limehouse (DLR), 3 minutes walk