Lily & Madeleine are two sisters from Indiana with an excellent album under their belt and a musical presence that belies their teenage years. Suffice to say, they put on an excellent performance at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar last night … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Southcoasting
Birdengine, supporting Samantha Crain
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Lawry Tilbury III aka Birdengine has a small red label that dangles from his guitar with the word ‘Happy’ inscribed on it. I now know that ‘Happy’ is the name of his guitar. Not that you can label his music, so maybe it’s doubly ironic.
Brighton-based Birdengine hasn’t been playing live much of late so it was a real treat to find him and Happy in the tiny Komedia Studio Bar, supporting the American touring songsmith Samantha Crain for a Melting Vinyl gig.
It’s hard to believe it’s been two and a half years since the The Crooked Mile was released, one of the best albums to emerge from the psych-folk scene. Not a happy record, it’s full-to-the-brim with melancholy imaginative gothic folk tunes, from which the sublime Ghost Club was a stand-out tonight. We were also treated to the stunning Heads off Dogs from his first album released on Drift records, and a number of new songs involving increasing use of a loop pedal which helps add a fuller sound to the trademark Birdengine pluck and strum. We were also treated to a charming jazz interlude thanks to the previous owner of one of the Birdengine guitar pedals, with Lawry’s usual hesitant interaction with the audience forming a kind of obscure sub-genre of rapping. Maybe.
It was good to see Lawry back in action, and a new album will hopefully start to emerge shortly.
Samantha Crain is touring to promote her new album Kid Face, which is well worth exploring – one of three excellent female songwriter’s albums released over the last month and which I’ve been enjoying this week (see also New Yorker Nicole Atkins’ excellent Slow Phaser and Brightonian Sharon Lewis’ classy Roses at the Top, more of which some other time). The small studio bar made for a lovely intimate venue and hopefully Melting Vinyl will use it more.
Photos and words by Jon Southcoasting
Electric Soft Parade – One night in December
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This gallery contains 2 photos.
The brothers Alex and Tom White brought their Electric Soft Parade back to hometown Brighton for the first gig of a short pre-Xmas tour. Playing songs from their latest album ‘Idiots’, a contender for many people’s end-of-year best-of lists for sure, they … Continue reading
Lloyd Williams and Ellie Ford
It’s almost becoming the norm, to do something special for the release of your first EP or album. And if it’s Friday night then it really ought to involve playing a gig in a church.
This is undoubtedly a good thing, because Brighton seems to have an array of fabulous churches who now open their doors to beautiful music. We’ve seen and reviewed church-launched releases by Woodpecker Wooliams, Time for Tea, Your Garden Day and now Lloyd Williams and Ellie Ford taking on the massive beautifully austere environment of St Mary’s church in Kemp Town.
And a rather stunning event it was.
Ellie Ford‘s 5 track EP ‘Show Night In’ has been on constant rotation since we first got hold of it a week or so ago, and live Ellie delivered the full range of her harp and guitar-fuelled folk-pop featured on the EP, plus some additional elements. She was even joined on stage by Tiago of Time for T and Andrew Stuart-Battle of the Common Tongues for two numbers including a lovely Americana tune which made me think of Linda Rondtadt fronting the Flying Burrito Brothers. Two favourites of ours from the EP also stood out, the wonderful ‘Too Late’, sounding as good as anything Laura Marling has written, and the gorgeous ‘Low’ which you can listen to below.
Lloyd Williams played two sets either side of Ellie, and if you haven’t heard his stunning frantic soulful folk-infused songs you really are in for a treat. I cannot recommend the new album ‘Time’ highly enough for fans of Nick Drake and John Martyn. Those references are pretty obvious and not entirely accidental, as the new album was produced by John Wood who was responsible for the sound of the Nick Drake albums and most of John Martyn’s classic oeuvre back in the 1970s. That’s a definite win as the production is top quality and so are the songs. It’s hard to pick out any single song, but particular favourites for us at the moment are the opener ‘Go Without’ and ‘The Foolish (in time)’.
Live Lloyd is an extrordinary guitarist and banjo player with a powerfully moving vocal style, which takes in elements of both Americana and classic British folk. There’s a deceptive simplicity to some of the songs, with a ripping speed-folk style powering an array of complex chords and riffs, and sensitive subtle lyricism. Catch him live as soon as you can.
For a flavour of what we heard from the off in St Mary’s have a listen to the video for new song ‘Satire’ which does not feature on the album but is a powerful introduction to Lloyd’s live set in which it features.
[Review and Photographs by Jon Southcoasting]
The Self Help Group: the new Fleetwood Mac?
The Self Help Group launched their album ‘Not Waving, But Drowning’ at the Prince Albert pub last night, ably supported by Fiona Sally Miller.
Fiona Sally Miller hasn’t been seen out and about much over the last year which is a shame as she’s one of the most engaging singer-songwriters around town. Simple little riffs set the scene for her personal songs sung in a warm voice that engrosses you like a hug. If you see her on a support bill, make sure you get there early. At this gig she was accompanied on some songs by a cellist, and gave an outing to her old goldie ‘I’m Going to miss you smiling at me like that’.
Mark Bruce
The Self Help Group album launch was a bit of a party for family and friends friends, starting off with them getting the whole audience to turn around to watch their video Needles played on the back wall. The launch got even more shambolic, with the band talking as much between themselves as to the audience, losing the banjo on one song and limiting their nervous wit to a strange bit of banter about their song about Birds. Not women, the ones with wings. Odd thing to say to any audience, let alone a Brighton one.
But we needn’t have worried. The thing about Self Help Group is the music, beautifully played, and Mark Bruce’s excellent songs, and the gorgeous twin vocals of sisters Sarah and Clara Wood. The thing is, this is just a truly great band and once they get going you forget about the fluff and hesitation and just get swallowed up by this wave of really wonderful fol rock Americana.
The album is very good indeed. Reviews refer to that Laurel Canyon soft-rock early-70s sensibility but if there’s one band they remind me most of it’s possibly Fleetwood Mac, with the charming female vocals, some sweet guitar and meaty rhythm section but mainly that wonderful mix of west coast Americana with English self-aware folk-blues.
Mark Bruce joked about the lack of happy songs last night – the album is full of songs about death and murder and stories of grim times – but the thing is they don’t sound depressing these songs, they are heart-warming and rich stories that bear repeating. And they have a song about murmuration. What’s not to love?
The final song Sand was a perfect ending, with its closing refrain of
“You must take the steps towards what you want and make things better“
sending us home with a lovely inner-glow.
Clara Wood-Keeley
You can order the album via the Union Music Store here or any good record shop (it’s one of Resident’s picks of the week this week).
Oh, and our interview with lead Groupie Mark Bruce is here https://brightonmusicblog.co.uk/2013/01/28/interview-with-the-self-help-group
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Review and Photographs by Jon Southcoasting
Black Black Hills – Far from my Arms
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This is the brilliant beautiful new song from Black Black Hills.
I wasn’t expecting this – a soulful mournful love song, imbibing the spirit of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds but very much its own. Really gorgeous. Go listen.
And go download here http://emailunlock.com/blackblackhills/far-from-my-arms
Interview with The Self Help Group
Mark Bruce is songwriter and leader of Brighton’s new folk-rock maestros The Self Help Group whose fabulous new album is being released on the Union Music Store label next month. Jon Southcoasting met up with Mark and asked him to tell us more about the band.
Who are The Self Help Group?
The Self Help Group are, Me, I sing and play the guitar. Clara Wood-Keeley and Sarah Natalie Wood are the good looking side of the band. They are sisters and grew up in Plumpton I believe. Paddy Keely plays guitar and banjo and hails from Selsey. Ian Bliszczak plays bass and spent his idle youth with myself in Peterborough. We have recently been joined on drums by Jamie Fewings who is from Yeovil.
How did you get started?
I had been musically moribund for years since my youthful days in a shoegaze band. When my wife and I bought a flat, I utilised the loft space as a studio, and started writing songs again. Mostly for my own amusement. Friends encouraged me, I started toying with the idea of getting a band together. With the help of some (brave) friends I managed to start The Self Help Group.
There have been numerous changes to the line up before this one, the biggest change being the acquisition of the girls . They started singing and harmonising together at 11 years old in a band called Skyline. Then sang in 10 piece jazz/funk band, followed by their own writing project ‘Tamashi’. All involved close harmonies which fitted perfectly with the sound we’d been aiming for with this band.
How did the link up with Union happen?
Jamie and Stevie invited us to do an in store performance for them at their shop in Lewes. The idea of recording an album for them started forming not long after and became a firm plan after a gig at the Green Door Store back in Jan ’12.
We started recording in March and the album was finished in October. The album was recorded for the most part in Jamie (Freeman)’s little studio just outside Lewes. Jamie recorded and produced the album. He was definitely a member of the band and had a massive input and influence on making the album as good as (I hope) it is.
The album has a very lush sound. Who writes the songs?
The album is quite BIG at points isn’t it? There is a lot going on. I write the songs. Some come to the table fully formed, but, as time goes on we are fleshing out sketched ideas in rehearsal much more.The songs are all written in the same way. I will usually come up with a melody while playing guitar. There is a folder on my computer full of odd news items I’ve found and I have a look in there and try to see which story fits the feel of the music. Then I pick at the story and write the lyrics.Some of the timings of the melodies definitely have a slight funk timing to them but you would never get that from the music unless you were trying to play the parts I think. I’ve never really known what I was doing as a songwriter and had no formal training in music. As a result, the songs are all very simple and there is still a big part of me that is secretly afraid that someone is going to find me out!
There’s a song on the album called the 5th man on the moon. Who’s he? And who is Big Nose George?
The 5th man on the moon was a guy called Alan Shepherd. I read a letter that he wrote to his parents the day before he enrolled in the space program and it interested me. The man inside the space suit. It must have been pretty hairy stuff going into space back then.Big Nose George, the song, is older than the band. I wrote it in about 10 mins after spending about 4 hours recording a load of old tosh. He was a wild west criminal called Big Nose George Parrot. Long story short, he was eventual caught and hung. The governor of the county at the time ordered that he be sent to the local tannery, where his skin was made into a pair of shoes which the governor wore for special occasions.
Who are your influences?
I’m always unsure who our real influences are. I don’t listen to as much music as I used to. I’m too busy chasing a 2 year old around the house and then recovering. Most of the bands that get mentioned in connection with our sound, I know little about. I guess that’s a good thing.I was a massive fan of The Smiths in my teens, then the whole shoegaze scene. Funk and soul music played a big part in my late 20’s. Now I listen to more mellow, acoustic stuff.I hope I’ve absorbed a little bit of all those things.
I also really love the latest Tallest Man On Earth album. The songwriting is so strong. One man and a guitar. I’m usually drawn to a much bigger sound, but that album is amazing. I can barely make out a bloody word he’s singing though. And I know the girls are really liking The Staves at the moment. Hopefully they won’t try to replace me with another pretty girl. That would suck.
One last thing, the video for Needles is brilliant. How did that come about?
We had a lot of ideas kicking around as we were unsure what the single would be. I was determined to steer away from a stereotypical folk music video. The furthest thing from the norm seemed to be a dance video, so, that’s what we did.Stevie Freeman (Co-owner of Union Music Store)’s sister Sian happens to be a choreographer. She offered to come up with “the moves”. It was a lot of fun shooting the video, in an old workshop in Lewes, on a cold Sunday morning. The rest is down to Jamie who slaved over an apple mac editing for weeks, bless him.
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The Self Help Group’s launch show on 7th February in Brighton is sold out.
The album ‘Not Waving But Drowning‘ is out on February 11th. But they are playing a free in store show at Union Music Store in Lewes on this coming Saturday at 3pm. It will also be your first chance to pick up a copy of their album too, a week and a half before its official release.
Abi Wade – interview
Brighton celloist Abi Wade has just finished a European jaunt supporting Patrick Wolf on his tenth anniversary tour. Her unusual phrasings and rhythms sit well with Patrick Wolf’s set and she even joins him on stage for a couple of songs. We caught up with her for a brief chat before their final gig together in Brighton’s beautiful St Mary’s church.
Any highlights on this tour? I really enjoyed Germany. Amsterdam was amazing as well. I liked Bristol a lot. And the north of England. It’s just all been great and the venues have been beautiful. Lots of churches which were lovely and some crazy places like in Germany an old warehouse that was really cool and had lots of things going on. I liked that one a lot.
How’s the album coming along? (Abi laughs) I just want to put feelers out and see how things go and get an idea of my sound and what I want to do before I turn out an album. Although I want to do it soon I haven’t completely decided what I want to put on it.
Abi played in a duo, the Wellingtons, but now performs solo. So she says the album may be quite sparse like her EPs but also with more electronics.
What are your influences? I love folk and when I started I was writing folky stuff and was influenced by Laura Marling. Always loved Kate Bush and I grew up on the Beach Boys and that kind of thing, so the melodic thing was always there. Then lately I’ve been listening to Grimes and recently went to a Ghost Poet gig, so really eclectic. I love all kinds of music but all I guess on the unusual side. Apart from the Beach Boys maybe, but the Beach Boys were original in their time.
I don’t really think I’m going to write a song ‘like this’, I just write. I don’t get directly influenced by anyone I just listen. But I also love phrasing and think about that a lot.
Abi has been taking advantage of the bigger venues on the Patrick Wolf tour and has been playing a song on piano when her set usually consists of just her and her cello.
How did the piano song come about? My first instrument was the piano and I love it but I don’t normally get to play it because there’s usually no way to bring a piano to the kind of gigs I play. But this tour’s been different. There’s only one piano song at the moment but I may be doing some more tours with Patrick so maybe I will write another one.
You studied in Brighton but not at BIMM? I studied music and visual arts here, but I originally came from Cambridge. I never performed at all before I came to University, so Brighton was really where I started to do that, in small venues, and that’s all I’d really experienced until this tour and seeing and playing in lots of different places. But it’s nice to come home of course.
Any bands in Brighton we should be listening to? All the people I love turn out to be friends, like Jennifer Left (Ed note: our Brighton Music Blog Advent Calender pick today), Aneka – I went to University with her – they’re my key musical fellows at the moment. And Esben and the Witch of course. It’s such a big scene though. I love Brighton, the buzz that it has and the community, the support that gives you.
Thank you Abi, it’s been lovely speaking to you.
Abi Wade will be headlining her next show at the Wednesday slot in the One Inch Badge Seamonsters festival in Brighton next month.
More here at abiwade.com
(Words and pictures: Jon Southcoasting)
Laish – back in Brighton
So, you’ve finished with Oxjam and the mass of musical fun this past week? Wondering where the next great sounds are coming from? Look no further because hurrah, this Friday, Laish are back in town.
Laish playing at The Haunt, Brighton
Daniel Green’s band have just completed a European tour and are now on a short home country trek, stopping off at the Hope on Queen’s Road, this Friday 26th October.
They’ll be supported by Maia – a 4-piece alt- folk band from Huddlesfield who have supported the Low Anthem, Anais Mitchell and the Unthanks, as well as playing the Cambridge Folk Festival and No Direction Home – a mix of gigs which pretty well describes their sound.
They’ve also got Nick Edward Harris on the bill, and having seen him support Emma Gatrill (also a Laish band member) at her album launch earlier this year I would highly recommend you get their early to experience his amazing intricate rhythmic guitar playing which is out of this world.
Laish, in case you didn’t know, come out of the excellent Willkommen Collective. Dan plays drums for Sons of Noel and Adrian when he’s not penning some of the most charming, honest and authentic songs to have come out of Brighton or anywhere for many a year. Their first album was released a couple of years ago, and was one of our records of the year – Mojo magazine termed it “Beguiling songs of love”, Line of Best fit “Clever and accomplished”. An excellent EP ‘Obituaries‘ came out earlier this year and a second album is now in the can and this blog for one can’t wait.
Listen to the title track from the Obituaries EP here
Tickets for this Friday’s gig are £6 in advance (£7 on the door) and you can buy them here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/185957
(Photograph of Laish at the Haunt earlier this year by Jon Southcoasting)
p.s. also recommended this week: Thursday: RESTLESSLIST at the Pavilion theatre
Emma Gatrill album release
Emma Gatrill (of Laish, Sons of Noel and Adrian etc) launched her first solo album ‘Chapter One’ in the beautiful environment of the Church of Annunciation last Friday night. The quirky but holy surroundings perfectly suited Emma’s hushed yet accessibly moving harp-based songs. The album is really lovely and well worth checking out – available now from the Willkommen label http://www.willkommenrecords.co.uk/shop/releases/emma-gatrill-chapter-i
Support acts on Friday came from two local acts I had not seen before – the Steve Aston Trio who played some beautiful jazz-based guitar in the style of Django Reinhardt (whose name I surprisingly spelled correctly at the first attempt!), and the opener who was the amazing Nick Edward Harris, who managed to play some extrordinary songs on the guitar using some impressive slapping and tapping and quite original ways of playing that instrument. Both supports are also well worth catching if you get the chance.
Brighton Music Blog 