SLOW was the breakthrough track for 31-year-old singer songwriter Rumer, and it was also the speed of proceedings for her first gig in York.

Not that the audience was surprised – or expected anything else.

Rumer is 31-year-old singer songwriter Sarah Joyce, who made the big time last year after 11 years in the musical wilderness.

Her album, Seasons Of My Soul, sold more than 100,000 copies, turning her into the fastest selling female artist of 2010 and earned her a Brit nomination.

More than 1,000 fans packed out the Grand Opera House for her York debut; although with the stage cleverly draped in long swatches of fabric and the eight-piece band (including two female backing singers) arranged in a horseshoe shape, Rumer managed to recreate the feel of a smoky jazz club, rather than a cavernous theatre.

Unlike her chatty and charming support act, the Joni Mitchell-esque Jenny Lindfors, Rumer was a woman of few words. We learned that two of the band were from Harrogate and that her new album would feature songs from the 70s and 80s by “forgotten men”.

This was a cue for a cover of Hall & Oates’ Sara Smile, which gave her fans a taste of things to come.

All the album favourites were faithfully performed, with the warmest applause received for Aretha and her cover of Alfie.

On the lively Shimi, the Miracles’ You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me and the soulful cover of Stoned Soul Picnic, Rumer shifted up a gear and we glimpsed what things might be like if she moved out of the slow lane.