In a coup for The Triangle, we’re delighted to welcome Alex Rex to Shipley on Friday 24 April.

Alex Rex is the project of Alex Neilson, known for his work with Trembling Bells, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Shirley Collins and others. Performed here as a solo set with nylon string acoustic and voice, these are songs of love, loss and loathing that feel haunted, melodic, darkly funny and deeply human.

There’s folk in it, certainly, but not in any dusty or dutiful sense. This is intimate, strange, emotionally sharp music with real character to it. As has been said elsewhere, these are songs inspired by Greek tragedy, Barbra Streisand and Alex’s own internal critic; songs that somehow make the detestable whistleable.

Support comes from Dan Haywood, described by Record Collector as “the best songwriter you’ve probably never heard of.” Having worked with the likes of Josephine Foster, Haywood writes songs that are thoughtful, off-centre, warm and quietly dazzling. There are echoes of the great English eccentrics in there, but his voice remains entirely his own.

Taken together, this feels like a special one: two singular artists, both working well outside the obvious, both capable of stopping a room in its tracks.

Doors 7pm