Haley Heynderickx @ Mackintosh Queen's Cross Church, Glasgow, 24 Aug

"Last time I played in Glasgow I was in my mid-twenties, now I’m in my thirties,” Haley Heynderickx tells us, a few songs into her spellbinding set at the Mackintosh Queen's Cross Church last Monday night.

It was, in fact, more than eight years ago that the Portland, Oregon songwriter and guitarist performed in Scotland. Back then, it was a support slot alongside Nap Eyes down the road at The Hug & Pint that brought her here, touring in the aftermath of her beautiful debut album, I Need to Start a Garden.

In spite of all the time that’s passed, Heynderickx has only released one more solo record in that time – 2024’s Seed of a Seed – as well as last year’s collaboration with NYC songwriter Max García Conover. Which makes her return to the city something of an unexpected treat, an out-of-cycle sojourn the day after her appearance at Green Man Festival down in the Welsh countryside.

The result of which means that a good portion of the set is built around a hefty offering of brand new songs, each as captivating as those we already know. Sat on a stool throughout, Heynderickx moves between acoustic and electric guitar, often shrinking the room down into a breathtaking sense of fragility, occasionally piercing through that dream-like atmosphere with brief ripples of more intense noise.

It’s that dichotomy that makes the show such a mesmerising gift. Between songs Heynderickx is almost overwhelmingly endearing, thanking the audience for staying up so late on a Monday to “listen to folk music” before her music takes the spotlight once more; the pin-drop, breath-held nature of it so gripping, so immersive you’re left trying to hold onto the many parts of the night as they drift into memory and new songs arrive.

Standout moments from her catalogue – The Bug Collector, Foxglove, Seed of a Seed – cushion the new songs, but it really is those unfamiliar offerings that shape the night, each one weaving a story we’re immediately and fully engrossed in despite hearing them for the first time. A striking instrumental track is perhaps the pick of a bunch, Heynderickx’s unique skills as a guitarist holding the spotlight as she conjures her certain kind of magic through a few minutes of fingerpicked ingenuity.

As the set draws towards a close, the Florida-via-Wales songwriter Johanna Warren is rapturously welcomed back on stage following her enthralling opening set, joining Heynderickx for a stunning a capella rendition of an old traditional song, their voices weaving together, rising up the beams above and gently filling the room.

It’s left to a scorched, utterly engrossing version of Untitled God Song to close the show, Heynderickx balancing layers of electric guitar noise with her elegant voice; a special kind of dance that spins long into the night, the memory of which could last a whole eight years if it has to. Here’s hoping it won’t.