Tonight is a rite of passage for the 22 year-old singer songwriter, Liam Frost. Last year was ridiculously frenetic as his acoustic performances created one of the biggest buzzes around the city since Nine Black Alps donned their lumberjack shirts. Now with a record deal under his belt, the final night of his four-week residency of gigs in Manchester and London is complete.

Watching him arrive on stage with the fully formed Slowdown Family of musicians only confirms that he’s found himself a perfect cast of characters to fit into his reclusively tender world. In fact, the sensation of being at a Liam Frost gig is that of a celebratory wake. Clad in suits and hypnotized by every word, The Slowdown Family are the axis where the Arcade Fire salute The Pogues.

Launching into 'The City Is At Standstill', the atmosphere immediately clicks into whiskey drenched catharsis. Frost aims his guitar skyward, launching back and forth between the mic and drummer Ben Perry. Guitarist Andrew Raven has transformed from a Noel Gallagher look-a-like to the spit of Eels mainman, E – skinny, stubbled and possessed by the dark, rumbling sound. Songs that were known as acoustic numbers are broadened into pelting tales of repentance. The waltzing 'Paper Boats' still captures Frost’s instinct for escapism as Pete Marshall’s violin cascades over the melody. Simply on the strength of relentless gigging, songs such as 'Try, Try, Try' and 'If Tonight We Could Only Sleep' actually have the crowd cheering at their intro. Frost even modestly asks the audience why they’re not attending the Kanye West show across town. But tonight is far from cabaret.

His lyrical preoccupations weigh heavy on his young heart. Haunted by loss, the songs trap grief in their melodies and release them with a sense of hopefulness. The heartstring mandolin melody of debut single, 'She Painted Pictures' glistens like it’s having its first performance and the additional vocals of keyboardist Sadie Baker provide a sweetness that contrasts perfectly to the raucous, free-wheeling bar stomp of 'I Woke Up From The Strangest Dream'.

The final song, 'The Mourners of St Pauls', is fantastically epic and plentiful in its grief. Building into a driving Bad Seeds anthem, it reveals the band’s breadth of style and ability. He may be chasing ghosts and resolving sorrows of the past, but the future looks like it’s going to be a well-deserved fairytale for Mr Frost.