IF DEPORTATION is a recurrent theme in BC Camplight’s recent material, then there’s a good reason.

A while ago Brian Christinzio, who trades under the Camplight stage name, overstayed his visa permission due to a leg injury and was made to leave Manchester and return to his native Philadelphia.

While he’s been let back in to Britain to gig, the experience has left its mark. “There’s somethin’ about, hanging around/Makes me feel like I’m already gone,” he notes on I’m In A Weird Place Now.

It’s a song whose arrangements, pulling in multiple directions and combining MoR harmonies with insistent staccato interludes, reflect its lyrical dislocation.

That desire to cover a lot of musical ground in a short space of time is the one consistent feature in the set.

Backed by a five-piece band, Christinzio swigs from a beer bottle while barrelling between Elton John piano, Bruce Springsteen anthem, 1970s prog and the soft country vibe of previous collaborators The War On Drugs and Sharon Van Etten.

The abrupt juxtaposition of styles within the space of a single song should jar yet he somehow succeeds in extracting the intrinsic drama.

The versatility of the delivery helps, from the grittiness on Deportation Blues to the melodious aggressiveness on I’m Desperate, on which he shares vocals with keyboardist/saxophonist Francesca Pidgeon.

The flipside of this stylistic promiscuity is that it’s easier to admire the material than it is to genuinely enjoy it.

But that’s alleviated by Christinzio’s self-deprecation helping to bring some welcome humour to the set.