Felicity Groom

A small but grateful crowd greeted Felicity Groom as she took to the stage this evening. Opening her set solo with an acoustic guitar, the first song was the delicate and beautiful “In Light”. It really showed off Groom’s beautiful and at times stunning voice. This was a very raw and musically naked way to start off the night, and it worked wonderfully.

Introducing her four piece band, the band played songs off Groom’s excellent debut album Gossamer, which was having its launch this evening. Playing before a very appreciative and mostly seated crowd, possibly a first at the Northcote Social Club, Groom and her band proceeded to both impress and charm with their playing and the banter with the crowd. Groom in particular cut a very likable and down to earth character on stage. When a crowd member told her that we loved her, she started a running joke that it was too early to say that, and during the night kept a running commentary of what date we were up to with her. This might have come off as corny or trite in lesser hands, but it really endeared her and her band to the crowd at what turned out to be an intimate night.

There were many musical highlights this evening. Gossamer has such a dense and layered level of production to it one wondered how this would translate on a live front. The songs, when played before an audience, had a much more urgent and raw feel to them. Groom’s voice was really the key to this. She has a great vocal range, swinging between a gorgeous Nina Simone-type smoky lower register all the way to a wail and holler that reminds one of great vocalists such as PJ Harvey. What is heartening about Groom is that, while one hears inspiration and influence in her music and voice, she truly takes it somewhere new and compelling. There is a definite sense of musical vision and being at play here.

Groom had a really great band behind her, that served her music well. Playing as part of a band gave the songs a stronger and more muscular sound. Song highlights this evening included “Under Oath”, the infectious “Finders & Keepers”, “Building A House” and a truly stunning version of “An Ache”. The band even found time for a great version of the classic track by The Zombies, “Time For The Season”. This both gave the band a great chance to stretch out musically and show off their playing while Groom tapped into her sexiness with a bit of dancing in front of the stage. A wonderfully natural performer, Groom has a great magnetism to her on stage.

Tonight, while not as well attended as one would have liked, was an excellent showcase for Felicity Groom, definitely one of the more talented and striking artists to emerge on the Australian musical landscape over the past few years. One definitely looks forward to seeing and hearing more from her over the next few years.

- Neil Evans - http://tonedeaf.com.au

“My name is Felicity Groom and I’m about to take you on a little journey.”

Perth-born folk/pop 60s lovechild of Nick Cave and PJ Harvey did take us on that journey, hitting the spotlight with her wondrous and quizzical melancholy sounds. Hauntingly beautiful as always with her mysterious-sounding vocals, she produced a set-list in which she played everything from fun, up-beat 60s pop-rock melodies in the form of Siren Song and Finders & Keepers to slower, darker moods.

Groom showed off her multi-instrumental talents Upstairs at the Surry Hills Beresford by picking up a plethora of instruments throughout her show, including the guitar, harp, and tambourine, the latter of which was beautifully intertwined through 39 Ways to Leave Your Lover. She took the Beresford through an immersion of ethereally sweet melodies, darkened by the dirty-rock influence of a male backing singer seeping between the notes.

In a way resembling the likes of Beach House’s Victoria LeGrand without the electronic influence, Groom takes you by the hand and strokes you gently, as though you were sitting in the midst of a field making daisy chains, puffing smoke rings in the shape of flowers. Her performance chilled the room and created a relaxed, laid-back vibe as she moved in and out of quiet folk songs and threw in a few pop chick genres.

Fragilely sweet, Felicity Groom’s lyrics can make your heart ache with a longing for more of her hippie-folk pipes and soft Woodstock-princess aura. I just don’t think her audience gave her the attention she truly deserved. - http://fasterlouder.com.au

The things that we do know about Felicity Groom is that she is a regular around the traps who appears to play more shows as a duo than with her full band, she is an enigmatic performer who commands a stage more than her short stature should allow, and that she has been working on a ‘much anticipated’ debut album for the past few years.
What we didn’t know about Felicity Groom was that the faultlessly produced Gossamer was going to be every bit as good as promised.
Groom is not your usual pop princess, and even though you will see her with guitar, piano or autoharp at the ready she is not your run of the mill folkie either.
Gossamer showcases a voice that is greater than the sum of its parts. Finder & Keepers is full of tribal rhythms and haunting chants, New Years’ melody arrives with the stealth of a ninja and the gentler side of Groom is nothing short of splendid on An Ache.
It would be fair to say that the market is flooded with acoustic guitar brandishing female singer songwriters. The music of Groom draws you in with its self assuredness and hint of the sinister. Gossamer is above the pack.

_CHRIS HAVERCROFT - http://xpressmag.com.au

The Perth music scene continues to prove to be fertile ground, despite its sandy soil. Latest export Felicity Groom has been the source of excited whispers for the past year or so, thanks to a couple of winning singles and national tours with some big-banner names.
It seems strange to use the words strident and fragile in the same sentence, but both are equally applicable to Groom’s remarkable voice, which scrapes depths, slices across rooftops and occasionally threatens to shatter atop sweet and swooping melodies. There are nods throughout towards the rock strangeness of P.J. Harvey or Cat Power’s Chan Marshall, with hints of newcomers Florence + the Machine.
Opener Trophy Talk builds from hand claps and piano chords into a startling, swirling structure of echoing vocals and thundering drums. The haunting Siren Song is no less carefully assembled, a chorus bursting through a rootsy, red-dirt guitar line for widescreen blue skies.
Simple, striking and memorable, this is a superb debut from a promising new talent. - http://www.theweeklyreview.com.au

Felicity Groom is a new one that I've noticed recently and her music is not the most cheerful going, but some that is on par to compete with the like of Florence & The Machine, which most of you will know, I love. Her debut album, Gossamer, is set for release (UK) on 11/11/11 .... For some reason in the UK that seems to be a big date, but I don't care for it really.

Anyway, Two songs that I can show you ahead of the LP's release are Finders + Keepers and also Siren Song:
Siren Song - I first listened to this with hopes of something remotely decent ... fortunately, I was pleasantly suprised. It's very solemn and very slow, and it may not be to everyone's taste at the very start but you have to give it a bit of a chance. The longer you wait, the more the smile on your face creeps - it's actually brilliant, especially during the chorus. The unnerving melody clashes with the vocal harmonies but captures a totally distinctive and talented woman.

Finders + Keepers - If you cannot hear Florence & The Machine in this you're in need of a hearing test. The tribal chants are a giveaway and actually I think the main vocal itself has some likeness to Florence. The tempo of the track is a lot more user friendly than that of Siren Song and actually makes it almost impossible to hate immediately. A lovely track that has clearly had a lot of thought put behind it. - http://tigers-lions-bears.blogspot.com

Felicity Groom just oozes raw sex appeal and has the attitude of a rock goddess but in a way that is restrained and sophisticated. “Siren Song” swaggers to a country blues beat. It’s dark, melodic rock and Felicity’s vocals have the same dramatic richness akin to Florence and The Machine.

Her debut album, Gossamer, is available 11th November on Spinning Top through Inertia. Check out her Facebook page for tour dates. - http://theorangepress.net

Felicity Groom is a folk/pop songstress of pure attraction. An abundance of seduction and style saturates the air around her, capturing and enthralling all those that gravitate towards her musically dark aura.

‘Siren Song‘, the first single from her debut album ‘Gossamer‘, is a shiver inducing reflection of these sensibilities, exuding her mass amounts of ’60s cool and corrupting charm. The tinge of darkness that accommodates her very existence is so well complimented with her melodic, sometimes wailing, harmonies, and the tone of the backing arrangement creates such an incredible feel for the song as a whole. Magnifiques.

The video itself oozes sexuality, and is as much inebriating to the mind as the music is. Black & White tone, slow motion, giant fan; it’s raunchy yet elegant, and ever so tantalizing. Enough said?

‘Gossamer‘ will be released November 11 on Spinning Top through Inertia. Be sure to grab yourself a copy and get swooning. Until then, enjoy! - http://massesmasses.com

Felicity Groom is an Australian singer-songwriter whose sound brings to mind a bluesy Laura Marling if sung by a less dramatic but still moody Anna Calvi. Those of you that follow the site, know that two of the biggest themes in my music collection in the last two years have been the rise of electro-pop artists from Australia and Sweden. But, as artists such as Butterfly Boucher, The Grates, Lovers Electric, The Jezebels and more have shown, Australia is full of plenty of acoustic and rock talent, too; and Felicity Groom is the latest example of that fact. Armed with deep sexy vocals and Cat Power-style gorgeous looks, it won’t take more than a couple of seconds watching the video for her single, Siren Song, for you to be completely entranced..and eventually obsessed. I may be gay as Christmas, but I’ll be damned if I’m not oddly turned on while listening to that voice of hers and watching the video below. Unless her label does something to fuck it up, expect big things from Felicity once her debut album drops next month. - http://fredhystere.com

The isolation both cultural and geographical in places like Perth has led to more than one instance of unique art growing out of said environment. The latest shining light to support the theory is Felicity Groom. Her debut album Gossamer is overabundant with inimitable riches.

Not content to take the journey alone, Felicity has enlisted friends from fellow Perth acts such as Jebediah and Tame Impala to help her realise her vision and what a vision it is. Throughout Gossamer, the surprises present themselves like sparkling diamonds rolled out on a black velvet cloth.

Felicity steps way outside the minimalist female singer/songwriter fare of acoustic guitar driven songs with more than a fair share of angst and boldly kicks things out with aggressive guitar Building A House, hook laden pop Finders & Keepers and even dips into the theatrical with Fire And Brimstone. It’s not all over energised output though and there are still moments of quiet reflection like Her Now Forever.

Using the singer/songwriter job description as just a started point and not an end result, Felicity Groom has fashioned a future for herself where her muse can take her anywhere. She also has the skills and verve to make all those directions feel right.

Rob Hudson - http://modmove.com

I think it’s about time for me to introduce a new female vocalist; I give you, Felicity Groom of Perth, Australia. In an interview with Australian radio station Triple J, a few years back she said the description of her style that she understood best was dark folk pop. At first I attributed the dark designation of her style to her sensual demeanor, both vocally and the all-around feel of her music—which is also reflected in the video, but there’s more to it. She recently revealed to Music Vid Kid the deeper meaning of “Siren Song.” It was actually written about her first hand experience of the London bombings-giving the dark description a more serious signficance.

“Siren Song” tells a unique story in a subtle way, the chorus will stick with you and Felicity’s passionate tone never fails to hold my attention. Her vocal talents are remarkably supported by the backing band…that guitar at the beginning had me from the start. Felicity’s look and sound could almost place her in the past yet she simultaneously maintains this originality and newness in her work. I am definitely intrigued by Felicity Groom and fortunately her debut album, Gossamer, is coming out November 11, probably only in Australia though, sigh. - http://mostlyjunkfood.com

Ridiculously talented Perth singer/songwriter Felicity Groom is perhaps best known for the fantastic single “Finders & Keepers” that came last year, and the highly creative video that accompanied it. That single, together with the Treasures EP of 2009 heralded the arrival of a major new talent on the Australian landscape.
Having been picked up and promoted as part of triple j Unearthed and, along the way, impressing many artists such as Paul Dempsey and Tim Rogers, who have specifically requested her as a support act on tour, Gossamer sees that sense of talent bloom to a truly wonderful degree on this stunning debut from Groom.
This is one of those artists that it is impossible to pigeonhole and shoehorn in regards to what has inspired her on a musical front. One can hear everything from classic and highly individual and iclonocast 1960's female singers such as Vashti Bunyan and Laura Nylo right through to the like of Nick Cave and even world music elements within what she does, such as on the utterly beguiling “Building A House.”
The album, co-produced by Groom, has an excellent production to it that empahsise the wide and varied musical influence that has informed her as an artist. However, this is no paint by numbers, ‘oooh, look at my record collection’ approach. There is a beautifully natural and organic sound to Groom’s work that is captured beautifully on her debut album. This is the sound of an artist truly moving to the beat of her own drum, irrespective of both what has influenced her and current trends in music.
Groom also possess a truly haunting voice. Like some of the best voices, it hits the listener on a deeply visceral and emotional level. Words completely fail to describe that smoky, sultry and beautifully haunting quality that Groom has as a singer.
Songs like the aforementioned single from last year, the utterly sublime “You Come Along”, “John Edmund Shea” and “Siren Song” both consolidate and confirm the woozy, dreamlike quality that Gossamer has to it, recalling late 1980's/early 1990's bands such as Mazzy Star, but never in a derivative way. Groom truly makes what she does her own, which is definitely to be embraced and commended.
This is a very high compliment, but Gossamer, like Kate Bush’s debut, The Kick Inside, sees Felicity Groom arrive beautifully and fully formed in regards to her sense of musical vision. Proving to also be an incredibly talented player of guitar, keyboards and autoharp, this debut album is very much the vision of one woman, unafraid to go where her sense of inspiration takes her. This is a truly beautiful example of an artist taking their influences and what has inspired them and truly making it their own.
This is one of those beautiful albums where one is best not to know too much before their first listen. This scribe could talk until he is blue in the face as to why this is such a great album. Simply pick it up, put it in and let it unfold before you.
This is a late highlight of the musical landscape that has been 2011. This is a truly wonderful and enriching listening experience, with which the listen will be more than likely utterly besotted.
- Neil Evans - http://tonedeaf.com.au