The Folky Fionn Regan

Fionn Regan at Islington Assembly Hall

I loiter in the long spindly queue of dimly clothed twenty-somethings outside Islington Assembly Hall.  Doors open, I grab a Red Stripe and perch on a radiator to the side of the hall. Latticed white panels overlaying grand urns of roses stretch alongside the proscenium arch. I begin to scorch my backside on the heated radiator pipes so slump down to the panelled wooden floor.

A gradual gush of people to the front is prompted by final on-stage checks from techies. And on comes the support for tonight, London based singer songwriter Annie Eve. Her curly locks fall beneath a dumpy grey beanie. A gorgeous double bass, slide guitar and ethereal backing vocals bring her first piece ‘December’s Ghost’ to life.

She announces the next song - ‘Kitten Meets World’ I hear her say. But I later find it’s ‘Kid Meets World’. Perhaps I can attribute this mishearing to learning earlier that my mate wants some new moggies. But as her set goes on I realise she lacks diction. Her use of dynamics is strong though and the bassist and guitarist bring a nice wedge of depth to the music.

Annie Eve & her talented band

I nibble some salt & vinegar crisps to tide me over until Fionn Regan arrives. This is a bit of a mistake – for the rest of the night I am craving a full-on fish and chips meal. Fionn steps on stage, harmonica in hand and opens with ‘Hey Rabbit’. “I just bought the harmonica today”, he reveals. “I think I was had. The only worse thing than badly played harmonica is well played harmonica”. His Irish words soothe me into numbness. That, and the third Red Stripe sliding down my gullet.

Next up is ‘The Bunkhouse’ with haunting lyrics ‘We watch them carry the coffin / From the house down to the river’. His emphasis of “silent” and “violent” in ‘At the gathering the whole room it fell silent / It heckled and grew violent’ generates a chilling echo in the room.

He follows on with ‘100 Acres of Sycamore’, ‘Put A Penny In The Slot’ and personal favourite ‘Dogwood Blossom’. As the set comes to an end I slink out of the hall into the cold night, tiptoeing over two lovers sunbathing in the darkness.

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Photography by Sophie Ellis

Tuesday 5th March 2013

Islington Assembly Hall

Introducing the gorgeous Sophie Jamieson

At St Pancras Old Church on Friday night

It’s bloody freezing. My legs ache. And I’m heading down a long dark road. Am I about to get stabbed? Well I hope not, ‘cos I’m really keen to check out half-Iranian folk singer-songwriter Sophie Jamieson tonight.  

I whizz into the small, echoing space of St Pancras Old Church. Tea lights flicker in the darkness. I think the coast is clear of knife-happy Londoners here. I perch on a creaky wooden chair at the front, perfectly positioned next to the blast of a heating duct. Sophie tunes up and apologises for her trembling nervousness.

Plucking sweetly at her acoustic guitar she begins with ‘Waterloo’, a song she wrote when she started gigging lots in London. “It’s about being lost in a big crowd and not feeling alone”, she later tells me.

Light greyish-beige chords and a navy cardigan wrap around her olive skin. And her trainers have the biggest loops of laces I’ve ever seen. She’s modestly beautiful and the lines on her face really reflect the words falling from her rosy lips. I’m reminded of Daughter as she locks us in a haunting hold with her stunning vocal.

She gives an appreciative smile to electric guitarist Liam Hoflay, who adds atmospheric coating to her lyrically strong songs. Sophie goes on to sooth and sting us with ‘Catch You Cry’, ‘Dinah’ and the “quite new” ‘I don’t’. 

Sophie Jamieson and electric guitarist Liam Hoflay

After her set I sneak her up some spiral stairs to the organ loft to find out a little more about her:

How did you find your time studying at Cambridge?

It was great. I really loved doing history of art and Cambridge is a great place for music on both the university and local levels. I didn’t actually discover the local music scene until my last term. Cambridge is where I started to get a little bit of confidence back doing music and really start enjoying doing gigs.

What’s your favourite place in London?

For a while it’s been the Southbank. It’s one of the most beautiful parts of London. I am very much drawn to the river, drawn to rivers in general. But I’ve also started to feel a very intense fondness for London since running around it with a guitar for the last year. There’s always a beautiful view from any point of that riverbank. The fairy lights in the trees can make you feel really happy walking along there.

If you could have your portrait done by any artist, living or dead, who would you choose?

Oh man, um… I really like early 20^th century art. Maybe it would be a sculpture by Henry Moore ‘cos then it would be really quite abstract and you wouldn’t be able to see any of my features clearly.

Which musician do you fancy..?

At the moment I’m quite infatuated with Matt Corby. He was actually a runner up on Australian Idol but he’s transferred to the underground British music scene. He’s really beautiful but he’s also an incredible musician. He has this one song called ‘Brother’. There are loads of live versions of it on YouTube and in every single one you can see he feels every single word he plays and it’s really sexy.

What’s your future music plan?

At the moment I’m only really letting myself look as far as the E.P. because after that it’s quite hard to know what’s going to happen. Things seem to move quite fast these days. I’ve been lucky enough to get a manager recently and he knows what he’s doing and he’s putting me on the right track. I’m applying to festivals at the moment too. 

'Waterloo' - Sophie Jamieson

Sophie Jamieson is signed to Folkroom Records and you can check out when she’s next playing on her Facebook page.  

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Photography by Sophie Ellis

Friday 11th January 2013

St Pancras Old Church

Winter Music Recap

Christmas time at New York's Rockfeller Center

Winter in New York dazzled me with some of the best live performances I will probably ever see. Leonard Cohen crooned 'Hallelujah' to me at Jay-Z's Brooklyn-based Barclays Center. I was part of an improvised call and response with legendary Bobby McFerrin. Gretchen Parlato and Alan Hampton played 'Still', one of my favourite chilled songs. And Esperanza Spalding really did surprise me with her mystery guest Paul Simon at a Free The Slaves benefit; he blessed my ears with 'Scarborough Fair' and 'The Sound of Silence'. 

Not only were the musicians on top form, but so were the audiences. At Terminal 5 I witnessed a brave teenage lad crowd-surf to the bar, grab a beer, and surf back to the stage (lager sloshing over him) all in the name of fetching a cool, refreshing beverage for Matt + Kim. That fan deserves a medal. 

Matt + Kim @ Terminal 5
15th November 2012

Of Monsters And Men @ Terminal 5
21st November 2012

Esperanza Spalding, Paul Simon & Bobby McFerrin @ City Winery
4th December 2012

Gretchen Parlato Live Album Recording @ Rockwood Music Hall
5th December 2012

DJ Duane Harriott @ City Winery
6th December 2012

Strawberry Fields, Central Park
20th December 2012

Leonard Cohen @ Barclays Center, Brooklyn
20th December 2012

Santa Claus @ Radio City
20th December 2012

Christmas Spectacular @ Radio City
21st December 2012

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Photography by Sophie Ellis

MNDR: Miaow!

MNDR's Amanda at 375 Hudson Street

In the past year she's toured with Duran Duran and Shiny Toy Guns. MNDR's Amanda Warner is a quirky cool cat, that's for sure. I asked her some Saatchi & Saatchi related music and advertising questions before she spun at their 'Thirsty Thursday' happy hour earlier today:

If you could license one of your tracks to an advert, which brand would it be for?

I am really feeling the Kmart ad campaign right now. However, I would love to have a song in the Channel and Louis Vuitton campaigns. The reason being is that they use music in such a powerful way that I stop everything I am doing to watch it and I donʼt even own a TV.

Youʼre a regular tweeter. What do you love and hate about Twitter and other social media sites?

I actually LOVE twitter and was one of the earlier people on twitter as an artist. I am very active on all of my social media sites such as my blog, facebook, twitter…etc. The thing I donʼt like about social media is when people buy “likes” or “followers”. It just makes the whole idea of building a loyal and true fan base worthless and cynical.

Which brands could you not live without?

My Sol Republic headphones, SoundToys VST Synths, and my Apple Computer, phone…everything.

Whatʼs the best use of music youʼve seen in an advert?

As of right now, I am obsessed with Kmartʼs use of Das Racist in their fall campaign. Every time I hear it I stop and stare.

You have the chance to invent a new variety of Cheerios. What flavor would they be?

Pizza, taco, and macaroni and cheese..rios

If you could go back to one era of time anywhere, where would it be?

I would love to be a fly on the wall during the formation of the United States of America. The founding fathers were such dreamers without restrictions. It changed the world. I would also like to be at the riots after the performance and ballet of Stravinskyʼs Rite Of Spring. Can you imagine art causing riots and fires? Amazing and powerful.

If MNDR was a color what would it be and why?

If you are an MNDR fan you know that my favorite color is chrome, because chrome has turned into a color and not a chemical process.

Video for #1 In Heaven

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Photography by Sophie Ellis

14th November 2012

375 Hudson Street

Jazz & Colors

'The Pond' in Central Park

Nuts were aplenty in Central Park this afternoon. Squillions of squirrels were cracking them open in their leafy dens. Branches laced with reds, yellows and greens hung above us beneath a clear sky. Autumn was out in full flirt and what better wingman than 30 bands in 30 Central Park locations with 1 set-list to make us fall at her feet in adoration.

Nut-cracking season in New York 

A free public concert, 'Jazz & Colors' took a four-hour residency in Manhattan's Mecca for nature-lovers. Map-in-hand I wondered from spot to spot to be greeted by topical tunes like 'Skating in Central Park' and 'Autumn in New York'. A mix of jazz standards also featured on the set-list, like 'Nature Boy' and 'Body and Soul', which I saw performed by championed soul-singer Stephanie McKay. 

Stephanie McKay with Jacques Schwartz-Bart Quartet

The park-wide concert ended with 'Empire State of Mind', the NYC themed collaboration between Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. This wasn't to the taste of The Wayne Escoffery Quartet, but featured-vocalist Carolyn Leonhart gave it a go anyway.

The Wayne Escoffery Quartet with Carolyn Leonhart

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Photography by Sophie Ellis

10th November 2012

Central Park

The Lake Poets: Touching New Video

Photo by Ian West - www.ianwest.blogspot.com

Just a quick one before I whizz off to work in the snow.  The Lake Poets posted a video for 'Rain' today. It got me all emotional! Martin Longstaff "and sometimes his friends"are from the Northeast - even better. Here it is:

New single 'Rain' is to be released on 3rd December

Grouplove: generic with a splash of colour

Grouplove @ Terminal 5, NYC

First night out since Sandy struck and I was keen for some feel-good beats... Sorry Grouplove, but I just wasn't digging it. The first two songs showed promise - I swayed amongst the High School Kids crowd. But what followed was, to be frank, dull. At one point the monkey in my head clawed at my brain in desperation.

Maybe I'm being a little harsh. My feet were killing from my New Look bargain brogues after all, and the iPhone-obsessed teens in front of me were treading on my toes. (I wasn't in the best of moods). But the only tunes that really razzled my dazzle (whatever that means) were 'Tongue Tied', 'Colours' and 'Itchin' On A Photograph'. And the latter only kept me awake for its first 54 seconds.

Most of the surrounding youngsters seemed to be in euphoria though, and the finale was truly a spectacle. A trillion shreds of brightly coloured paper pummelled at our faces. I was transported back to childhood, a toddler again, happily submerged in a pool of coloured balls.

Drowned in colour at Terminal 5

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Photography by Sophie Ellis

2nd November 2012

Terminal 5, NYC