POP MUSIC REVIEW : Hickman’s Sweet Surprise

Talk about a split personality. On record, Sara Hickman sounds a little too preternaturally mellow and mature for her own good at times, with all the earnestness you’d expect from a politically correct but balladically commercial folk-pop singer older than her 27 years.

In her At My Place show on Sunday, though, Hickman evidenced an entirely different side between songs, her smooth, sweet singing voice giving way in casual chat to a slightly dotty Valley-girl-from-Texas speaking style.

Coming from anyone else, that irreverent pep-squad spunk between selections might be irksome, but from Hickman it was a welcome contrast to the sober manner of her material. Her teasing with the full house was endearing.

More important, emerging as girlishly upbeat in concert, she was able to bring out a sensuality only suggested in the recorded version of a song like “The Very Thing,” and make an already playful tune like “Too Fast” (an anthem celebrating female sexual aggression!) even steamier. A sexy folkie? You bet.

With her acoustic guitar aided by a strong, drummerless backup band, Hickman’s 100-minute set still had its share of gravity, with mixed results, and a too-pleasant, generic “adult contemporary” quality. But her love songs are almost entirely affecting, and her little band cooked up a storm on “Don’t Give Up,” Hickman’s simplest plea and most melodically enthralling number.

Opening act Cliff Eberhardt likewise showed off a sense of humor--albeit a more biting one--not always evident in his promising Windham Hill debut album. “Your Face” sounds like a classic already in the Lightfoot/Fogelberg mold, but with more vocal grit and soul; he’s sentimental but tough-minded.

Hickman and Eberhardt’s joint tour closes tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.