It’s not a bad time to be a male folk singer right now. Normally the genre is the preserve of the same ten thousand people who wake up every day hoping that Bob Dylan will announce the release date for a new studio album, but recently the dust- throated, broken-hearted male troubadours have been making serious noise, both in sales and critical praise. Mumford & Sons are well on the way to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world, Fleet Foxes are selling out every venue they book and the internet is a buzz with Bon Iver and his second album doesn’t even drop till July.

So, for Denver native Nathaniel Rateliff, who has already toured with the breakout folk successes of the last few years, Laura Marling and the aforementioned Mumford & Sons, things are looking pretty good.

Having released his debut album In Memory of Loss in March, Rateliff is slowly, but solidly building a core fanbase, a fanbase which stretches to include a pretty full Jericho Tavern on a Monday night.

As soon as Rateliff takes to the stage, simply accompanied by female backing singer Julie Davis, a kind of hush descends over the venue. It’s not an unpleasant silence; everyone is just concentrating, even between numbers, on every word and every strum. Rateliff plays a brand of folk which is more arresting than the wispy whimsy the genre is usually associated with, switching from the yearning love songs of vintage Fleetwood Mac to the deadpan poetry of Leonard Cohen in the space of a breath.

Some of his cuts are conventional love songs, like Longing and Losing and some are more narrative based, like You Should’ve Seen The Other Guy, an ode to his grandfather. Arresting and charismatic, Rateliff has the crowd completely enthralled throughout his set. He’ll do the same to much bigger crowds, too: it’s only a matter of time.