This past Sunday night I fell in love. Sitting alone at The Factory Theatre in Sydney’s inner west suburb of Marrickville, my heart fell without my consent or choice in the matter. The reason being I was in the company of the exquisite talent that is Krystle Warren.

Fresh off her support slot with Rufus Wainright, and armed only with her stellar voice, a guitar and ample wit, Warren pulled the audience in and held them tight in her hand for the entirety of her show. Opening with ‘You Can Take Me With You’ from her most recent album, Love Songs – A Time To Embrace (2012), the room was eerily still as everyone hung on her every note. Warren effortlessly manipulated her voice and used it to paint pictures so rich, vivid and clear that it felt like she was singing them for me, for everyone in the audience, for anyone who’s loved in their life. We were all there in those pictures.

And that’s the way the rest of the show went along.

Well, not exactly.

The show was not without its hiccups, but Warren took it all in her stride. From a busted guitar string, which saw support act Wes Carr (whom I missed perform) save the day by lending his guitar, to her stool falling over mid song, Warren came across as apologetically real and ridiculously talented. She told jokes to fill in the awkward gaps when things went wrong, recalled quirky stories in between songs, planted questions in the audience for the audience to ask her, and professed that she was insanely nervous and that she didn’t know what to do about it, all in such an endearing way that if you hadn’t already fallen for her storytelling or divine voice, then she had you with her personality.

The beauty in Warren’s performance is not only in all that I’ve gushed about, but in her honesty. To see a performer sing with such sincerity and carefree abandonment, to use their voice as a true instrument, capable of dwelling in the deep broody lows, soaring in the pitch perfect highs and roaring without hesitation when needed is truly a beautiful thing. This is all matched by her sweet guitar playing and poetic lyrics. Encountering the joy of Krystle Warren, I feel like I’ve witnessed a musical hybrid of The Beatles, Nina Simone and KD Lang. When I put it like that surely you can understand why I had no choice but to fall head over heels for Ms Warren?  I’m pretty sure had you been there, that you would have fallen too.

Check out the photos from the show here.