Preview: Patrick Wolf, Liquid Room, Victoria Street

THE first time Patrick Wolf played in these parts was six years ago when he came to town to promote breakthrough album Wind In The Wires.

It was a proper event and the 6ft 4in singer, towering high over a rammed Cabaret Voltaire, owned the stage, picking up a five-star review in the following day’s Evening News for his troubles.

Even so, the scrawny troubadour has come a long way since, constantly evolving and bettering himself as both a writer and a producer.

It’s time for Mr Wolf again on Saturday night, with the precocious, classically-trained, multi-instrumentalist bringing latest release Lupercalia to the Liquid Room.

The album is the Londoner’s most accessible yet, and it’s helped him find a wider audience, with the likes of Lady Gaga declaring herself a huge fan.

According to the newly-engaged Wolf, the album’s mostly positive vibe owes a lot to personal happiness.

He explains, “I was writing so many different ways for [last album] The Bachelor, four or five different types of music and I wanted to do something next that had more focus. Something more consistent.

“There’s a lot of love in there, but also there’s a break-up halfway through - so there are different aspects to love included... different stories. It all leads up to me being engaged and getting married, I guess.”

Wolf says he’s grown up a lot over the past year or so, and the album reflects this. “I’d been single for such a long time, going out and falling into gutters – being paparazzied on a small scale, but enough to mess me up – and I just felt empty,” he says. “Then, when I was out one night, it was a love-at-first-sight moment.

“This album was all about trying to write about being in love without the cliche.”

Patrick Wolf, Liquid Room, Victoria Street, Saturday, 7pm, £13.50, 0131-225 2564