Erin Marshall at The Empire Hotel

Sydney singer/songwriter Erin Marshall recently took up residency at The Empire Hotel. I went along to a couple of her shows:It’s been over a year since I first saw Erin Marshall perform. Back then, she was rough diamond with a voice to die for and a natural stage presence. Since that night at Ruby Rabbit, she has played plenty more solo shows (most notably, support slots for Angus and Julia Stone, for whom she also sung backing vocals on their album) and written a plethora of bold new songs which demonstrate her continuing growth as a songwriter and guitarist.

These songs were on display during impressive 45-minute sets at The Empire Hotel in a three-night stint spread over three weeks. Playing as part of a three-piece band (which included her brother on drums), Marshall was as jovially affable as ever as she ran through her eclectic new material. The current ace in her pack is new track Once Upon a Time, which plays out like the prettiest lullaby and is surely her best composition to date. Juxtapose the sheer delicacy of that with the deliciously riotous romp, Hard Case To Crack - which lands nicely between Feist and Nancy Sinatra - and you get a nice idea of the diversity of her work. At times it is foot-stomping fun, elsewhere it is ruminative and downbeat. Regardless, it is always intelligent and carefully crafted.In a scene where skinny-jeaned bands gaze with disinterest through their fringes while they purvey generic indie guff, Erin Marshall feels like a breath of fresh air on the Sydney circuit with her sweet acoustic melodies. One suspects that the venues will grow in size as Marshall continues to wow audiences with her honest, emotive storytelling and her jaw-dropping vocal. Surely it is only a matter of time before this songwriter hits the big time.