Inspired by similar events around the UK, The Blue Moon pub and venue hosted the first all day festival of Indie pop for Cambridge. Unfortunately we missed the afternoon performances, just arriving to catch the end of the set by Suggested Friends, who were playing ‘jangly punkish’ songs about ‘regret and micro-aggressions’. They sounded good to me and ended their set with ‘I Don’t Wanna Be A Horcrux For Your Soul’, Harry Potter goes Indie for the first time (though Jarvis Cocker did play at the Hogwarts Ball..).
¡Ay Carmela! are a three-piece named after their singer (and a song sung in the Spanish Civil War) and make a splendid noise, with thundering drumming setting the pace on ‘Dog Tired’ and no let-up until they had played most of their recent LP ‘Working Weeks’.
I was very pleased to see Chorusgirl on their return to Cambridge, a year on from the release of their brilliant and highly recommended debut album. The sound was tight last time I saw them but now it is honed even more, the bass and drums feeding into the two guitars and of course the relaxed but so crucial vocals of song-writer Silvi Wersing. The songs are like intricately painted detailed pictures, the imagery in the lyrics shimmering above complex arrangements and sonic changes. Two new tracks were previewed, ahead of a new album in production. But while we wait, continue to enjoy the delights of ‘No Moon’, ‘Oh, To Be A Defector’ and the finale ‘This Town Kills’.
Top of the bill were Edinburgh quartet The Spook School, playing in Cambridge for the first time. I wasn’t able to stay for all of their set but listening to some of their tracks afterwards I’m sure they maintained the quality of the rest of the show. I look forward to All-Dayer 2017…
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