The Lighthouse Family

The soft-soul duo of Paul Tucker and Tunde Baiyewu have quietly achieved million-selling status with hardly a whisper of hype, and they slipped into Dublin last night for a sold-out gig at the Olympia Theatre. The pair met while at university in Nottingham, and, like The Blue Nile, they've retained their anonymity even though the whole world seems to know their songs. Backed by a full and funk-friendly band, The Lighthouse Family started off with calm, undulating grace, singer Baiyewu gripping his microphone stand tightly during Postcards From Heaven, and holding on to his vocal line for dear life. When Lifted brought the audience to its feet, Baiyewu loosened up a little, and by the time Once In A Blue Moon had set, the singer was practically shimmying around onstage. The temperature rose for Sweetest Operation, going almost beyond lukewarm, and new single, High, kept the audience's arms in the air. Baiyewu's voice is a soothing, low-register drone, free of the usual emotional mood swings, but it floats nicely through Lost In Space, leaving a sense of calm where boredom might easily have prevailed.