Jenny & Johnny @ Cabaret Voltaire, 30 Nov

“Here's one about being bound and tied up in a dungeon – not unlike this club.” Jonathan Rice informs the Cabaret Voltaire crowd, finishing the introduction with: “This is for you Mom, if you're out there. I'll take the reins.” Well, the album they're here to play is called I'm Having Fun Now.

Rice and bandmate/girlfriend/Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis are known collectively (along with two other off-top-billing bandmates) as Jenny and Johnny. They're trying not to make it too complicated for us, and succeed in doing so with a mix of melodic indie-pop and country-tinged Americana underpinned by their playful vocal duetting.

The material is not without its subversion however. The couple eye each other up suspiciously during My Pet Snake, a song featuring a lover's tiff and lyrics of murderous fantasy, whilst upbeat radio playlister Big Waves is a song about the current economic depression.

All in all however, the evening proves to be a straightforward take on straightforward material. Appearing on their own for the encore (not that the other musicians do them a disservice), perhaps it's telling that Lewis's most evocative vocal performance of the evening, and the song best received by the crowd, is a stunning rendition of Silver Lining by Rilo Kiley. [Paul Mitchell]