Deuce cut loose

An acoustic guitar and a violin.

Two instruments played well and with conviction are capable of producing the sweetest of sounds.

This was clearly evident on Wednesday night as two members of Deuce played to a small but attentive crowd at The Doghouse.

Guitarist Eamon O'Neill and violinist Becky Hamilton were on stage when I arrived. Saxophonist Colin Falla, who usually completes the line-up, had a prior engagement so was unable to attend.

Eamon and Becky were midway through a version of U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The violin was sounding particularly mellifluous, helped by the reverb from soundman Toj.

'He always seems to get a great sound from the violin,' said Becky afterwards.

Eamon's vocals were, as always, cutting through clearly.

He is a superb guitarist who, in his short space of time in the island, has earned a reputation as a mean shredder of the fretboard. This could have overshadowed the fact that he has a pretty good singing voice with great range and an ability to reach the falsetto notes with seemingly little effort.

Becky is not only an exceptional fiddle player but has a fantastic voice too – her harmonies blended perfectly with Eamon's lead vocals.

The musicians got together earlier in the year for some 'inspired' jam sessions which led to the formation of Deuce.

In March, the trio was invited to open for the Kast Off Kinks at Beau Sejour. It went down so well that the three ended up in jam session with the headliners on four songs, including the Kinks classic You Really Got Me.

As the strains of the cover of the U2 classic ended on Wednesday, the violin struck up the familiar intro to Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl.

A stripped-back cover of The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby followed before Eamon announced the pair would play a couple of originals.

Usually at this point the punters get itchy feet and head to the bar, but that wasn't the case here. A fairly upbeat number called Right Now held the crowd's attention as did the lovelorn Her, which Eamon later told me was an old song that he confessed he had written at 16 'as a melancholy teenager'.

An obscure U2 cover, Lemon, with the repeated refrain, 'midnight is where the day begins', upped the tempo somewhat before a rip-roaring end-of- first-set rendering of Bowie's Modern Love.

During the break I caught up with the pair, who I had seen playing at the Sark Seafood Festival a few weeks ago, and implored them to play their great version of The Waterboys' Fisherman's Blues in the next set.

They dutifully agreed, but not before Becky took up an acoustic guitar for the start of the second set to play an achingly soulful version of Ain't No Sunshine. This really showed off her great voice. The second song involved a lot of finger picking and was expertly executed, after which Becky picked up her electric violin for the aforementioned blues song, with Eamon sounding remarkably like a young Mike Scott.

Becky's panoply of effects really complemented her instrument, with the use of phaser and wah-wah most impressive on the duo's version of Space Oddity, and a Pink Floyd number whose name I can't remember.

The final number, Stairway to Heaven, had those present shouting for more.

'We've only ever had two rehearsals,' admitted Eamon, post-gig.

'And that's not bragging, it's just how it is.'

Well, it doesn't show.

With no encore, Deuce left us all wanting more.