Workman’s Club, Dublin

Now in its third year, the Certain Three Tour was conceived by a canny promoter as an annual start-of-year taster for (mostly) Irish acts we’re hopefully going to be seeing and hearing a lot more of.

Previous acts across previous years have included O Emperor and We Cut Corners, each of which now has a reasonably high national profile. This year’s batch of imminent would-be/should-be acts features Isle of Wight singer-songwriter Puzzle Muteson and Irish contenders The Lost Brothers and Katie Kim.

Muteson (aka Terry Magson) is very much the unknown quantity here, but his tremulous vocal and just-the-right-side-of-fragile tunes auger well for an increasing appeal. A collaborator with, and labelmate of, contemporary classical composer Nico Muhly and Icelandic producer/composer Valgeir Sigurosson, Muteson is on this occasion bereft of accompaniment, but his songs ably fill the heart and mind.

As does the short set from The Lost Brothers, an Irish duo (Oisin Leech and Mark McCausland) that sounds like the ghosts of the Everly Brothers whispering a secret to Hank Williams. Original tunes such as Only By Light of the Moon, O Brother, Killing Heartand Under the Turquoise Skyshowcase the pair's estimable reference points as much as their admirable singularities. Understated they may be, but the music is pure, lonesome and lovely.

Waterford’s Katie Kim is another box of intrigues altogether. There are times when her slowcore/ambient folk-pop is enough to make you want to retire dreamily into the Twilight Zone, never to return, but darts of feedback, a boozy bunch of irritating “fans” and a particularly ho-hum experimental instrumental bring you right back out. The set is, sadly, too brief to settle into any kind of groove, but most of what’s on offer is simply too delicious to say no to.

The Certain Three Tour 2012 concludes at the Model Arts Centre, Sligo, on Saturday