Eleanor Friedberger @ Salford Eagle Inn, 4 Feb

"You know, a bad chair can ruin everything." Eleanor Friedberger shuffles and shifts her position. "I have this perfect little stool at home – maybe I should have just squeezed it into my backpack." Pause. "As if things weren't weird enough…" A couple of songs into this mesmerising solo show, Friedberger's raised eyebrows support a set-long commentary ("There you go – another song ending in G!") that helps bond audience and performer – there is deep affection from both. She later accepts drinks and the odd lyric prompt with winning good grace.

Aces from all three solo albums undergo deft reworking. He Didn’t Mention His Mother and All Known Things showcase excellent new album New View and there's a rattling When I Knew from 2013's Personal Record. Stripped right back, everything blooms unexpectedly. A cover of Smog's I Was a Stranger is, on reflection, a thematic shoe-in.

Throughout, there are so many moments of bewitching, unforced drama. As Friedberger's own song book deepens and swells, it's an electric reading of her former band The Fiery Furnaces' Widow City that elevates a lengthy set. "There’re foxes on the mountain, girls," she warns, and closes her eyes and takes a breath before continuing. "Wag your head and clean your clocks / Ready for the rendezvous with the sticks and the stocks." How Friedberger explores these songs anew, re-lives their oblique poetry, is testament to the generosity of her stage craft and the richness of her bustling narratives. As a hushed room pulls her in, it makes for a dizzying, compelling communion.