Last Wednesday Emily Barker and the Red Clay Halo. Then Thursday, CHVRCHES.
Two great concerts, very different, and yet with something in common…
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know I love Emily Barker’s music. The concert at Shepherd’s Bush was my fifth in the last couple of years. From seeing the band at the Lexington pub in Islington, supporting Eliza Carthy, to headlining the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, I’ve really enjoyed the trip.
This is Emily and the band on Wednesday. More electric than before, but as warm and deep as ever.
The focus, this time, was on the new album, “Dear River”, with its themes of home, of roots and new friendships. Emily, herself, from Australia, but having made England her new home.
There’s more electric guitar – and bass – than before. But the essence is still heartfelt songs, beautifully sung. “Letters” is for me the highlight of the album, and it was magnificent live.
“Ghost Narrative” runs it close, and that was brilliantly performed too, with Emily rocking out on the harmonica. If you haven’t heard the album, I really do recommend it. It’s a great album from start to finish.
The set was sprinkled with old favourites (well, not that old…) too. “Ropes” and “Little Deaths” from the previous album, “Almanac” and of course those two Scandinavian thriller theme tunes, “Nostalgia” and “Pause”. “Pause”, especially, will always be a favoutite for me. Those simple strummed electric chords, the plaintive melody and the beautiful harmonies from Gill, Jo and Anna. That was the song that made me realise how good they were when I first saw them, and it’s still as good.
This is the band doing “Pause”. Guitar and voices….
A wonderful concert. Set me up for Thursday!
CHVRCHES was totally different. On the Monday I didn’t even have a ticket. but I’d been listening to the band a lot and saw them on a recorded Jules Holland “Later” on BBC 2 from a few weeks ago. I was getting to like the music more and more. In fact, I was hardly listening to anything else. I decided I had to go to see them, because I’d just be going what-might-have-been otherwise. So I paid a bit of a premium for a ticket on-line, but was in there on Thursday.
It was a great concert. The music was superb – just like the album, really – and Lauren Mayberry’s singing floated beautifully over the eighties synth rhythms. She had a cold and drank a lot of water. She was struggling through, but she didn’t let anyone down. The set started with “We Sink”, which could be Depeche Mode, except Lauren’s voice and her delicate presence live makes it a very different experience. It made me think back to all the New Romantic and electro pop bands of the eighties. Mostly male singers being grandiose. Annie Lennox and Alyson Moyet the exceptions. Both of them, though, going for the big soul voice. Lauren is different. If you were going to try to compare her, it would be with Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins for the way she is enmeshed with the music, maybe Clare Grogan of Altered Images just for the voice over some infectious indie-pop beats, maybe Kate Bush for the way that her voice drives the rest of the sound. Maybe even Debbie Harry, for her style and the perfect pop melodies. But this is just me harking back to the past, which I always find impossible to resist. The point, really, is: CHVRCHES are making amazing pop music, that references the past, for today. And Lauren – with her beautifully floating voice, and striking eye make up, and forthright, articulate views, is undeniably central to their appeal. She is the epitome of indie. Intelligence, unconventional beauty, rock’n’roll.
I forgot to take my camera, so all my shots are with the iPhone, which couldn’t cope with the lights. So I went for the positive, and zoomed in for some abstract art…
The set was quite short – they don’t have a big back catalogue yet. Less than an hour and no encore. I did feel a sense of disappointment about that, but told myself it was early days – and Lauren wasn’t too well. But all the key songs were there and brilliantly performed. The light show was good too. My favourite song, “Lies”, came in the middle of the set, and felt a bit distorted – the big synth beats slightly too fast. But ‘Tether”, towards the end, was magnificent, and “The Mother We Share”, closing the set, uplifting, a celebration.
I’m still playing the songs constantly on my iPod. ‘The Bones Of What You Believe” has to be favourite for my album of the year right now, although Emily’s “Dear River” will be up there, along with Disclosure’s “Settle”. We shall see!
I like this photo. Lots of colours and looks like one of the band – Martin, I think – has exploded! No offence, Martin. Just my iPhone.
Two exceptional concerts. Totally different. And yet….
Both bands appeal to me for all sorts of reasons, but at the heart are the beautiful melodies. And sometimes that sense of melancholy which makes a song so moving. If you strip out all the effects, the presentation, you are left with a simple, beautiful song. And two wonderful singers. I’m sure Emily Barker could take “Tether” and turn it into a heart-rending country song. And likewise, I’m sure Iain and Martin from CHVRCHES could take that bridge on “Letters” to the greatest electronic heights. While Lauren could take “Pause” to an achingly beautiful place.
What thoughts! I’ll keep enjoying them, and hope you might join in. Listen to those two brilliant albums and take a view!
So England have made it to the Brazil World Cup in 2014 without the agony of a playoff, which could have been against a pretty decent team, maybe even France. Oh God, the thought of that would have been too much to contemplate! Anyway, worries over, we’re in on the party and can start dreaming of an unlikely triumph… until the first group game.
England were in a very average qualifying group: Ukraine, Poland, Montenegro, Moldova and San Marino. They made very heavy weather of it and until the last two games, had only beaten Moldova and San Marino. But over the past five days they’ve beaten Montenegro 4-1 and Poland 2-0, and done so with some good attacking style. As they say, you can only play what’s in front of you. They’ve done that, done the business and can now look forward to Brazil.
So, instead of moaning about the lack of English players in the Premier League, the dearth of coaches compared with Spain, the inability to pass to players with the same shirt when the going gets tough, why don’t we look at the positives?
1. Wayne Rooney seems to be back to his best in an England shirt.
2. No-one seems to be questioning whether Frank Lampard and Stevie Gerrard can play together in midfield anymore. Better late than never.
3. Leighton Baines looks so good at left back that Ashley Cole isn’t missed.
4. Suddenly there seems to be an influx of exciting young players who can handle it at the top level. Andros Townsend on the right wing was at QPR on loan last season and still hasn’t won the hearts of Spurs fans – witness the vitriol on BBC’s 606 talk show after the 3-0 defeat to West Ham – but here he is ripping up that right side with extreme pace and daring, passing the ball better than Theo Walcott usually does and shooting with venom. Ross Barkley of Everton looks the real deal, and people are now getting excited about West Ham’s Ravel Morrison, who starred for the U-21s tonight. Upfront, Sturridge and Wellbeck look lively. And we musn’t forget Zaha, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and, of course, Jack Wilshere. The great thing is that all our hopes are not now focused on Wilshere, which should give him time to recover fully from injury and develop at his natural pace.
5. The defence didn’t fall apart as soon as anyone ran at them.
6. Joe Hart played well in goal. Get off his back people!
7. Manager Roy Hodgson showed that he can be flexible tactically and isn’t wedded to the traditional English 4-4-2. Not that there’s no place for a 4-4-2. Most teams revert to something like it when they are chasing a game.
8. In fact Roy has vindicated the FA’s choice of him over Harry Redknapp. His international CV now looks like a plus.
Reasons to be cheerful! We can now start to imagine valiant progress through the group stage after a slow start. A dodgy escape in the last 16. An unprecedented win on penalties in the quarters against Portugal (if they qualify), a titanic battle against Germany in the semis, sneaking through with a last minute goal by Ravel Morrison, after a flick-on by Andy Carroll; and then in the Maracana, a stunning 4-3 victory over Brazil in the Final, even though Rooney is sent off for elbowing Neymar in the 75th minute. An Andy Carroll hat-trick makes him the second West Ham striker to win the World Cup for England!……
Zzzzzzz…..er, I think I just dozed off there and started to dream.
Oh well, now is the time for the dreams, before reality kicks in.
So I stepped out the back of Wasabi, with my “Hana” takeaway for lunch, and liked this aspect of Westminster Cathedral. The iphone seems to like bathing foregrounds in shadow, where there’s any contrast. Highlights the subject but I’m getting frustrated. Tempted to switch to camera, but then it wouldn’t be iphonelondonscenes.
So from now on I’m going to change the name to lovelondonscenes and use whatever implement comes to hand!
If Disclosure’s “Settle” was the best dance album I have heard in ages, then CHVRCHES’ “The Bones Of What You Believe” has to be the same for indie.
It’s a brilliant, shiny pop confection, the sounds rooted firmly in the eighties, the melodies wonderfully catchy, with lots of those oh-oh-oh refrains you hear in today’s pop music. And wow, those synths take an old lag like me right back to the New Romantics, Depeche Mode, Human League, Gary Numan, Erasure. I don’t think of the sounds as derivative: more a brilliant update. And singer Lauren Mayberry’s voice floats beautifully over the rhythms, a sweet complement to the robotic beats. Again, I could write a list of pop singers over the decades she reminds me of, but I won’t. I’ll just say she is perfect for the music.
The other members of Chvrches are Iain Cook and Martin Doherty.
I saw the band at Latitude this year. They packed out the i-Arena. I liked them, but didn’t get too excited about them at the time. Maybe in the great rush of bands, I just put them in the eighties revivalist box. But I’ve really grown to appreciate their sound. Songs like “The Mother We Share”, ‘Gun”, “Recover” and “Tether” are magnificent synth-pop tunes. If they go back to Latitude next year, they’ll be in the 6 Music tent or even the main stage.
My favourite song from the album at the moment is “Lies”. It has a sweep which is right out of the Tubeway Army’s “Are Friends Electric?”. That is definitely alright with me!
Here’s a video, courtesy of Youtube, of the band playing “Lies”.
