JayMay made her return to Philadelphia back on June 11th, playing the undersized and ultra hip Tin Angel. It may be that this venue wasn't the ideal one for the Long Island singer-songwriter, as she made comments several times about the suspicious quietness of the patrons during her set.

Maybe it was something about the setup, or the preppy audience in attendance at the Tin Angel on that Wednesday night. (Opening act, Fink, dealt with the same respectfully hushed crowd during his performance.) Some certainly were aware of JayMay and specifically there to see her play. One could be sure of this from the crowd which gathered around her at the end of her 45 minute set.

Performing solo with an acoustic guitar – as opposed to the multi-instrument setup on her albums – JayMay began with a pair of songs not on either her EP or LP: “Song for Paul” and “Lonely Men Built Lonely Cities.” Both exhibit a more folksey direction in JayMay's music – one not so much heard on her recorded material. In fact, even the songs from last year's LP (Autumn Fallin', Blue Note Records) had a more improvised and jangly feel when performed live.

“Big Ben,” which is one of the softest and most downtempo songs recorded by the singer, was far looser and spunkier live. This served the song well. JayMay took further creative license with other songs from Autumn Fallin', as well. “Sea Green, See Blue” was given a scat-sung “trumpet” solo, while the singer also chose to spread the tune out a bit, vamping and jamming on some of its more memorable passages.

Overall, this was a night which afforded JayMay fans a couple of distinct opportunities. First, there was the simple fact that she was in the States. The NY native relocated to London last year, and this was only the second show of her current U.S. tour. Second, and perhaps more importantly, a wealth of unreleased material was played, and much of it is rather promising.

Among the new songs was the hyper speed folk ditty, “What About the Bob?” The tune was largely improvised when it was written, and it was inspired both by the film of a similar name and by Bob Dylan. (This was appropriate, considering the “I LOVE DLN [Dylan]” shirts the singer was peddling along with her own CD's.) According to JayMay, the tune will be on her upcoming record, Ten Under Two - a collection of songs all under two minutes in length.

After busting through an impressive series of songs, with limited stage chatter, JayMay performed a powerful version of the AF track, “You Are the Only One I Love,” before closing out the night with her single, “Gray Or Blue.” Overall, it was a great set, improved by JayMay's fearless attitude toward expanding on and experimenting with her own catalogue. If you're a fan, be sure to catch her live.