Morganway, Hare & Hounds, Birmingham, 10 April 2025

Leave a reply

The Hare and Hounds has featured many, many acts over the years and with the characterful interior and musical history it is a venue of choice for performers wanting fine acoustics and immediate atmosphere.

First on stage was Savannah Gardner, showcasing her striking country voice, adept guitar playing and cleverly structured songs, many drawn from recent album ‘Recovering Good Girl’. With her confident stage presence and warm personality she was a strong opener for the show.

Halfway through an extensive tour Morganway were ready to raise the roof; as first song ‘Hurricane’ nearly did. The band have many strengths, able to create a full country rock sound driven by guitar and violin or down in the audience sharing the campfire singalong of ‘Halfway Tonight’. Through it all the power vocals of SJ Mortimer and the band harmonies take the songs to another level. An outstanding song tonight was the storming ‘Devil’s Canyon’, a relentless dark groove from their new album ‘Kill The Silence’. Full of sparkling highlights, this was a brilliant set.

https://www.morganway.co.uk/

https://savannahgardner.com/home

Jo Ash : Mutation, EP released April 2025

Leave a reply

A trio of new recordings from composer/singer Jo Ash, starting with ‘Fear’, a re-imagining of a standout song originally played by her rock band Derecho and since honed by live performances in her solo shows. With pacy keyboards and beats, bass notes pushing their way in and an urgency in the vocal it rolls through moody verses and powers into the killer choruses.

‘Raven Sky’ is one of Jo’s gentler storytelling songs, filled with atmosphere and foreboding. Sparse instrumentation eventually breaks out into bold sonic layers for the grand finale before drifting off into space. ‘Coda’ is a clever lyric full of questions over another fizzing electronic rhythm; it gets to twist and mutate towards the end. These three gems are a change of direction for this talented performer who is always pushing her music into uncharted territory.

http://www.joashmusic.com

Indie-pop weekender Day 2, Firebug, Leicester, 2 March 2025

Leave a reply

Day 2 of ‘Leicesterval’, the newly expanded version of city institution the indie-pop alldayer. Beginning the proceedings were ACHB, with their cinematic catchy rock, laced with timeless anthemic folk, especially on songs like ‘Carry Your Good Name’. Locally based Dayflower were more introspective with an attractive sound drifting through the spacious downstairs area of the venue. Four-piece Sassyhiya played a set of catchy happy pop, full of musical twists and turns with smart lyrical invitations to puppet museums, Kristen Stewart and to meet their cat (‘Crayon Potato‘). It was an excellent set to end the first part of the show.

Fightmilk continue their ascendancy with a fine new album (‘No Souvenirs’) and storming live performances; tonight they seemed to have stepped up their shouty and rockier side and as always singer Lily and the rest of the band engage amiably with the enthusiastic audience.

Keeping the energy level up were the final act cheerbleederz, a powerpop trio from London. The opening salvo of ‘break ur arm’ and ‘nail biters’ set the tone for many more zesty vignettes of relationship discontent and disruption, with sharp and sparse instrumentation.

A great show, hopefully the new two day version of this very special event will become an annual fixture….

https://achband.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dayflowermusic/

https://www.facebook.com/sassyhiya

https://fightmilkisaband.bandcamp.com/album/no-souvenirs

https://cheerbleederz.bandcamp.com/

Morganway, Relevant Records, Cambridge, 31 January 2025

Leave a reply

Morganway celebrated the release of their third studio album with some in-store preview shows, kicking off in the hallowed basement of Cambridge vinyl shop and cafe, Relevant Records.

The band created a mellow, engaging sound with the space created by the acoustic line-up allowing each instrument to shine through. Starting with the punchy ‘Devil’s Canyon’ the six-piece showcased a variety of styles, from the smooth country-rock of ‘Boy On The Train’, the heartfelt ‘Don’t Turn The Lights On Yet’ to the environmental call to action of the album title track ‘Kill The Silence’ and the gentle anthem ‘We Sing’. The strong lead vocals of SJ Mortimer, subtle band harmonies and soaring violin are a key part of the sound but the individual contributions of all the members combined make this band a considerable force.

https://www.morganway.co.uk/

https://www.relevantrecordcafe.co.uk/

Jo Ash : Somewhere Beneath The Stars, single released December 2024

Leave a reply

A seasonal song from singer/songwriter Jo Ash, with her piano augmented by gentle acoustic guitar from musical collaborator Mike Wheatley.

As always with Jo’s tracks it is all about creation of an evocative atmosphere, as the melodic subtleties in the verses lead to a resolving bold chorus. There is also a wistful dreaminess of the lyrics ‘…..on this frosty eve the white’s so pure. Take me somewhere I’ve never been before. Amber fire, glowing stars lighting up the midnight sky….’.

As in many of the best Christmas songs the allusions to the long winter nights of glorious clear skies, snow and otherworldly cold are what timelessly resonate with the listener…

https://www.joashmusic.com/

Indiepop All-Dayer, Blue Moon, Cambridge, 16 November 2024

Leave a reply

Cambridge band Model Village opened the show, pulling in a decent crowd for the early afternoon start. The Village never disappoint; today their set was sharp and unpredictable with an emphasis on their uptempo songs. As well as manning the sound desk, Jethro Steel is a hyper-talented musician and performed a solo set under the name Deer/Dear, well received by the audience. One of the best surprises of the day for me; Trust Fund were a folk duo who created a gentle acoustic oasis in the afternoon, an ambience then picked up by the mellow pop of Beckon, featuring the fine voice and guitar of Faith Taylor. Indie supergroup Swansea Sound brought their wry comment and preoccupations to the stage accompanied by punchy instrumental backing.

After the break, Mumbles delivered a set of informal structures and haphazard brilliance; this Manchester based rocky trio were in a class of their own. Knitting Circle played sparse, spiky pop with plenty of social comment and protest including the timely ‘Dance for Peace’. Local legends Mammoth Penguins were augmented by a keyboard/percussionist and played some lesser known tracks from their substantial back catalogue, also featuring an unexpected cover of ‘River Deep-Mountain High’.

It has taken a while for headliners Fightmilk to appear in Cambridge, they are a powerhouse punk/rock quartet tempered by the vocal drive and indomitable personality of singer Lily. With new album ‘No Souvenirs’ released the previous day, they are a band that delivered a stunning finale to a brilliant day, featuring one of the strongest line-ups I have seen for a while.

https://www.facebook.com/modelvillagers

https://trustfund.bandcamp.com/

https://thebandbeckon.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/swanseasound/

https://mumblesmuzak.bandcamp.com/

https://knittingcircle.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MammothPenguins/

https://www.facebook.com/fightmilkisaband/

Altered Images, Junction J1, Cambridge, 28 October 2024

Leave a reply

Vanity Fairy warmed up the audience with a set of ballads and uptempo tracks, including her catchy new single ‘Top of the Pops’, all echoing the heyday of disco in the late 70s and after.

After two hit jangly indiepop albums in the 80s Altered Images developed their recorded sound into the glossy sheen and lusher instrumentation of long-player ‘Bite’, performed in its entirety as the first half of this set. Singer Clare Grogan was on fine form, with plenty of reminiscence and chat with the crowd as the performance showed the nuances and strong song writing of the collection, including the big hit ‘Don’t Talk to Me About Love’ and ending with the dreampop of ‘Thinking About You’

After a short break the band returned with a hits set featuring signature track ‘I Could Be Happy’, the more recent ‘Mascara Streakz’ and the towering edgy brilliance of ‘Dead Pop Stars’. The finale to this excellent show was of course the chartbusting ‘Happy Birthday’, a song destined to be played forever…

http://www.alteredimagesband.com/

https://vanityfairy.bandcamp.com/

Public Service Broadcasting, Corn Exchange, Cambridge, 25 October 2024

Leave a reply

Halo Maud opened the show, singing in English and French with a three piece instrumental line-up that rapidly changed from pulsing energy to dreamlike atmosphere. A fine, dynamic set featuring many tracks from 2024 album ‘Celebrate’.

Public Service Broadcasting returned to the Corn Exchange with a set drawing on what is now a substantial back catalogue, but of course with an emphasis on recently released ‘The Last Flight’; movingly describing and commemorating the achievements and disappearance of pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart. The stage was like a giant plane control panel, with screens to show the archive clips. The four regular members of the band were stunningly augmented by the vocals and keyboards of EERA and a sound quality and volume that balanced the voice samples and music perfectly.

There were tracks from all their full-length albums – ‘Sputnik’, ‘Spitfire’, ‘Go!’, ‘Progress’ all featured strongly with the rarer ‘Korolev’ as a bonus too. The encore of the glorious ‘Night Mail’, the electropop of ‘People, Let’s Dance’, the dancing astronauts of ‘Gagarin’ and the thought-provoking history lesson of ‘Everest’ were a great distillation of the band’s depth and endeavour at the end of this brilliant show.

https://www.publicservicebroadcasting.net/
https://halomaud.bandcamp.com/

Megan Moroney, Junction J1, Cambridge, 12 September 2024

Leave a reply

Weston Loney kicked off the show in a packed Cambridge Junction; he was full of zest and energy raised to the highest level, especially for ‘Cappuccino’ and the anthemic ‘Red Diesel’. Radiating warmth and confidence, he set up the audience nicely for what was to come.

The Cambridge music scene does not feature many country-pop stars so we were fortunate to welcome a performer of the calibre of fast-rising phenomenon Megan Moroney to the friendly-sized J1 venue as part of her European tour. The opening salvo of ‘Lucky’ showed that the guitar driven four-piece band meant business, but it was second track ‘I’m Not Pretty’ and the melancholy beauty of ‘No Caller ID’ which really carry the lyrical elegance of Megan’s songwriting and vocal delivery.

‘Man on the Moon’ and ‘Miss Universe’ were good-time rockers, ‘Hope You’re Happy’ and ’28th of June’ are fine melodic ballads and ‘Indifferent’ is a glorious stealthy verse and power chorus. Throughout Megan involved the audience by putting the songs in context, particularly for the poignant ‘Girl in the Mirror’.

With Megan’s strong and fun stage presence, sparkly guitar playing and songs of the strength of her award-winning ‘Tennessee Orange’ and finale ‘Am I Okay?’ it was a fantastic show.

https://www.meganmoroney.com/

https://www.instagram.com/westonloney/

Esther Rose, Prince Albert, Brighton, 8 September 2024

Leave a reply

Woody Green opened the show with his experimental, ethereal folk, blending thoughtful lyrics with gentle, empathetic guitar instrumentation from the two musicians on the stage of this intimate venue.

Esther Rose has stories to tell and many melodic songs including a fine medley from her 2017 album ‘This Time Last Night’. She holds the audience with her compact country-folk tales and adds variety with classy duets with guests Dylan Earl and Jude Brothers.

https://www.estherrose.net/

https://www.facebook.com/WoodyGreenMusic/