First Hill musician KP O’Neill took the stage on one of Café Metropolitan’s last nights. Unassuming, he said a quick “hello,” made a timid joke and jumped right into his first song. But O’Neill’s shyness belies a passion for his music that became clear through his Wednesday night acoustic performance.

His songs run the gamut from dreamy indie-folk ballads to more dissonant, rough jams that test the limit of his hand-painted acoustic guitar. O’Neill fuses an unusual range of influences – he seeks to blend bhangra and Bollywood styles with punk and grunge. “My goal is to incorporate an Indian sound into every song,” says O’Neill.

Without the backing of a full band, it is more challenging for him to achieve that sound, but O’Neill’s acoustic set doesn’t disappoint. Wednesday night, he kicked things off with “No Delay,” a song that displays his penchant for simple tunes that build to an unexpectedly rich sound. A highlight was “Rule the Night,” an infectious song that manages to be at once a march and a ballad.

With his debut album set for release in January 2012, you can expect to hear more from O’Neill. If you missed the show at Café Metropolitan, you can catch him at the Comet on November 20th at 4:30, with Zach Kadro and Paul Swansen opening.