The last time she was in Leeds, Kate was performing in front of several thousand festival revellers in a packed-out tent.

This week she returned to the city to face only a couple of hundred fans in much more civilised surroundings.

She has plenty of opinions (a thousand, as she sings on Mouthwash) and delightful stories to tell, but her playful charm only burst into life when she broke into song during the very intimate show.

Intimate or intimidating? She shyly confessed we were making her nervous as she clung to her guitar, but during each colourful ditty her childlike personality dazzled.

With songs about birds and bees, flowers, young love and cups of tea, you'd be mistaken in thinking everything's rosy in her life.

But beneath the bouncing, knockabout piano riffs lie bitter-sweet, lovelorn rants about crumbling relationships with rubbish boyfriends and desperate hopes of romantic attention.

Teen angst it may be, but when others would mope about (like the tight-lipped Mariella in her opening tune), Kate exorcises her demons with exuberance and enchantment.

  • Kate Nash performed at the City Varieties, Leeds.