smoke fairies

Forest Of No Return

Last night I went to see Hal Willner's Forest Of No Return, a performance of Disney music staged at the Royal Festival Hall as part of Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown festival. It was based on Willner's 1988 compilation album Stay Awake and promised a similar experience to his 2006 Leonard Cohen tribute shows, or 1999's Harry Smith Project concert.
The venue is very recently re-opened and it was good to see it looking a little more stripped down and minimal, less of a shopping-and-coffee experience. However, the performance started 50 minutes late and it was never clear whether this was due to RFH teething troubles or just something more specific to this ambitious show.
When we took to our seats, we were thanked by an excitable guy - American? Kiwi? His mic was so distorted it was almost impossible to tell - who enthused that our patience had fed into the creative process. It's a lovely thought, though undermined as he proceeded to tell us all about the difficulties of staging Meltdown.
My uncharitable thought was that I really didn't care. Meltdown's not exactly new and previous years have been similarly ambitious, but it was a characteristic beginning to an evening that proceeded in fits and starts, demonstrating many flashes of inspired genius amongst an overall level of frustrating inconsistency.
Much has been said about how the pre-refit RFH's sound quality was terrible and how the new acoustic remodelling has improved it. Maybe, but up on the balcony I have to say that the sound varied for most of the night between barely acceptable and atrocious. The instruments all merged into one big soupy mess and vocals were frequently indecipherable.
David Thomas provided some of the stronger performances. His solo renditions of I'm Late, When I See An Elephant Fly and Pink Elephants On Parade were compellingly excellent. His duet with Nick Cave on Heigh Ho was my show highlight, taking the downtrodden grimness of the Tom Waits Stay Awake version and pushing it down through the seven circles of hell.
Beth Orton's Baby Mine, Stay Awake and Second Star To The Right were dependably robust and tender. She seems to operate outside the semi-mainstream limelight these days and I'm considering proposing her for whatever application process is necessary to get someone acknowledged as a genuine National Treasure.
Gavin Friday's sinuous Siamese Cat Song managed to be both comic and menacing, with helium-hoarse vocals and prowling of the stage. His Castle In Spain was played slightly straighter, though with a hint of the cheeky Daddy Cool persona he used in his 2006 Dublin show Tomorrow Belongs To Me. Sadly his Cruella De Ville was cut from the show at the last minute.
Grace Jones gave a superb performance of Trust In Me, wearing a dress that looked like a cross between an haute-couture parody and an exceptionally poisonous snake. In a similar vein, Roisin Murphy performed a rather mannered, Broadway-friendly He's A Tramp in a similarly flouncy, be-hatted number. Both were pure spectacle.
Of the faces (and voices) that I already knew, the surprise of the night for me was Pete Doherty singing Chim Chim Cheree. His mournful, understated version of the song was flawlessly delivered. It was a shame that he then failed to perform his second number with The Smoke Fairies, though their solo rendition of Blue Shadows On The Trail was lovely as it was.



Amongst the names that were new to me, Richard Strange delivered a high-octane Headless Horseman (complete with a Hamlet/Hirst-like jewelled skull in his hand). Much more to my taste was Leafcutter John's riveting, folktronica delivery (accompanied by David Coulter) of A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes. I'm already checking out his own material.
That was the stuff that I enjoyed. Amongst the other stuff was much jazzy instrumental noodling by respected musicians whose work I'm just going to have to admit to being too musically lowbrow to appreciate. I'm afraid I yawned a lot during those pieces. Call it a personal failing, but I'm always more captivated when there's a voice.
Skye Edwards, Ed Harcourt, Baaba Maal and Fenella Fielding all delivered perfectly pleasant numbers, but I didn't find them particularly involving. I did, however, find my respect for Ed Harcourt increasing considerably when someone plonked a whole-head rabbit mask over his eyes just before he churned out an amazing piano solo for the next minute or two.
Then there were the celebrity karaoke performances. I don't want to sound like an old misery-guts - it was Disney, after all - but Jarvis Cocker doing I Wanna Be Like You was probably the best of the (banana) bunch, though with none of the wit or nonchalance of his performance of the Leonard Cohen songs last autumn.
Nick Cave doing Hi Diddle Dee Dee was a bit like your pissed uncle embarrassing you at a wedding. Don't try to persuade me it was self-parody; it was just crap. Equally, Shane McGowan slurring his way through Zip-a-dee Doo Dah was a wasted opportunity; I wish he'd had something with a bit of pathos to get his infamous set of molars into.
The ultimate nadir for me was the foursome of Jarvis Cocker, Pete Doherty, Nick Cave and Shane McGowan performing Home Sweet Home via the medium of bark. It was funny for about ten seconds, after which the joke wore very thin. I'm all for fun and subversion and playfulness, but this just reeked of sloppy self-indulgence and I hated it.
So, overall I had very mixed feelings about the whole night. My impression from listening to the audience members around me and reading people's blog posts earlier today is that I'm probably in the minority and that generally people thought it was fantastic. I have wondered whether it's fair of me to compare it to other Willner productions.
I always try to be positive but in this instance I'm confident in my opinion that many of those involved can do better. It's clear from a couple of websites that at least two of the performers were only invited to join the show three days beforehand, suggesting that at least some of my concerns might boil down to a lack of preparation.
Nevertheless, I hope I don't sound too churlish. It's great that venues like the RFH can support artists like Jarvis by allowing them to commission sell-out work that keeps people like Hal Willner in business. Also, I'm always happy to be in the audience of any event that flexes Mr Willner's enviable address book, even if the end result contains the occasional howler...

Update (20 Jun): scans of the set list handout, plus a few reviews, pictures and videos that have caught my eye over the past couple of days since I wrote this post:
• Set list handout - front
• Set list handout - rear
• What's In A Name? - similar views to mine
• Intermezzo - includes excellent selection of pictures
• Struggling Author - wonderful after-show party anecdote
• YouTube - Pete Doherty singing Chim Chim Cheree (partial)
• YouTube - Cocker/McGowan/Doherty/Cave howling
• Guardian - Forest Of No Return
Update 2 (21 Jun): more stuff coming in...
• Music Like Dirt - has some photo links not listed above
Posted by Hg on Monday 18 June 2007 at 23:54.
Received 0 comments so far.

- www.hydragenic.com

.......Pete was supposed to perform “Blue Shadows On The Trail” with The Smoke Fairies, but for some reason left the fairies on their own with just a glass harmonica (albeit the only one in the uk) as accompaniment. They may be supporting Bryan Ferry on tour but I wouldn’t let that put you off, The Fairies were simply magical. If I could get their Murdochspace page to play songs I’d probably now be raving about how their own material is as equally mesmerising as this cover was! As it is I’ll simply have to add them to my list of “must listens”.
They also write a very witty blog describing how one day they were “sitting around in our pyjamas, drinking whisky and feeling like unemployed bums” and the next they have to learn a Disney song and perform it in front of thousands!

“We felt like incredibly small fish in a sea of very large talented fish. Or like a grain of sand in a very large beach in which all the other grains of sand are actually giant boulders that say “hello I’m Nick Cave“. - The Smoke Fairies

MP3: Syd Straw - “Blue Shadows On The Trail“
Roy Rodgers - “Blue Shadows On The Trail“ - http://www.musiclikedirt.com/2007/06/27/jarvis-cockers-meltdown-forest-of-no-return-170607/

http://festivals.musicomh.com/end-of-the-road-2007-1_0907.htm





End Of The Road Day 1 @ Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, 14 September 2007

Well, last year's End of the Road in sunny Salisbury was pretty fantastic, so with a bag packed with food, drink, memories and warm stuff (just in case), I set off to this year's event with a skip in the step. The roads are calm and the car park easy to navigate, and before we know it we're walking the track up to the festival site eager to embark on some canvas engineering.
A little heavy work is usually fine by me to begin a festival, setting you up for the weekend of luxury ahead I think, but I'm weary of kicking pegs into concrete with my shoe... What's under this End of the Road grass? Have they got something buried under there? Maybe it's the rotting corpse of a mainstream festival, which is a soothing thought no doubt as we struggle and strive.
The tents finally go up, blood pressure providing a neat counterpoint, and it's on with the business ahead. We've set up in the top corner of the festival, so it's quite a walk up to the Somerset Cider Bus, yet that's the only place to really christen my second EoR.
A hot and spicy cider is sampled to counter the weather, and a quick walk around the Larmer Tree Gardens further invigorates. There's the renaissance mural painted onto the strange large concrete arch; the Garden Stage is parked there in the same place as last year where the peacocks roam, and here's one now actually, trickling along with its offspring in tow and cheekily winking at us to the sounds of Stephanie Dosen's glossy folk.
Dosen's sounds float in an ethereal manner as the peacocks tap their feet, and if only the sun came out it'd be nigh on perfect. There's another peacock sitting on a shed to welcome us as we explore the site further, walking down through a gravelled alley past chairs carved from wood on which sit a family of Paddington-style giant teddy bears, and an ample kids area that makes me wish I was a ten years old. And here's The Local, the famous London venue that's packed up and come to the country for the weekend, a droning guitar and some affectionate vocals welcoming us in to its hub.
For twenty minutes or so Actress Hands serenade us with some quite romantic indie rock and self-deprecating between-song banter, and they seem like generally ace guys, creating such a welcoming atmosphere, affectionate and genial. Everyone wills them on in their quest to shoot Queens of the Stone Age melodies through Weezer's magic Pop gun, and they accomplish it with a broad kind of shimmer and smile.
Last year the small Bimble Inn tent was like a gift from Mars via Stockholm or New York, nocturnal wonder simmering as fancy-dressed regulars with unlikely athletic abilities prowled. First impressions this year are that it has a little more of a wild-west edge about it, and wow, there he is, our friend who regaled us with the most unlikely bit of athleticism I've ever seen last year, when he reacted to banging his head on the wooden arches with a fantastic Russian jig and front summersault into a seated position before falling back into an inebriated stupor... What a guy. The place is buzzing with tales of a Viking Moses set that we'd just missed, and I make a mental note to return very soon and possibly stay here for the whole weekend.
Ane Brun is due on next at the Bimble, and it's a name that rings a bell, so the Swedish lounge next door provides a quick stop for some Swedish meatballs and a pear cider before her set starts, and we're transported to a sultry acoustic world of cut-glass poetic sentiments. Brun has a voice coated in velvet, pulling a golden thread through her songs, romantic, graceful and poignant. Two backing singers stand at her side for an alternate 60s pop dooh-whopping effect, and the songs wrap around me like silk, reminding of the joys ahead on Sunday and in particular Jens Lekman, which is such a tremendous thing.
I leave before the last song, trickling out in a happy daze to make my way back across the grass. A game of Kubb (a cross between baseball and skittles, honed into a fine, if boring, art by the Vikings) is going on happily in the distance and a giant fire is being prepared for the night, the Thai restaurant sits there with no little allure, and in a reading room opposite I see someone feeding vinyl in a record player. But I'm determined to keep going in a straight line, and it gets easier as sounds begin to drift from the Big Top tent.
I've got one Scout Niblett single, and some reliable friends have ardently recommended her, but any preconceptions are blown away by her opening songs. The first two numbers are blindingly good, their perfect melodic structure sitting so well with her dyed-in-the-wool outsider air, creating a real poetic tension, and the huge crowd stands enthralled. It's a genuinely humbling experience, and Niblett goes on to slay us with some extraordinary tempo changes and some of the greatest, most seductive rock growling I've ever heard. Cutting a diminutive figure on stage, effortless and natural, there's a quiet suggestion of Kurt Cobain to Niblett, and, brilliantly, it comes with a starry-eyed wonder that points to far more poetic constellations.
The sky has cleared to Niblett's sultry outpourings, and I head down to the Garden Stage with a friend's words about Jim White ringing in my ears. I'd planned to get down there earlier for the hard drinking cult southern American legend, but the three songs I do catch are more than enough to get the impression that he's an extraordinary figure. Tales of hard times and hard drinking are sung with a truly redemptive Country air, some superb lines emerging from the bottom of his whisky glass with wit and wisdom. White is wistful, emotional and funny, and I think everyone gets a bit emotional when he leaves us with some final words about his happiness, his love for his son, and his recovery from a suicide attempt.
A quick shortcut through a gate stage right and I'm back in the woods heading towards The Local. The name "Smoke Fairies" has jumped out of the line-up and danced before my eyes, and here they are now, looking angelic but giving birth to some low-down fairytale folk songs that take me right in. "Reckless Blamire" and "Dirty Davies", as they call themselves with chic griminess, delight in taking ancient folk sounds and making them their own sparkly toys, their voices merging in a husky crawl that snakes around their dusty guitar play, mysterious and evocative.
Dark has long fallen, and the lights that wrap around the trees light the pathways with exotic allure. The songs of Midlake creep around the Garden Stage and threaten to leap out of their restraints in fiery flames. Singer Tim Smith is alternating between instruments with noble versatility, singing his labyrinthine tunes with those haunted choirboy vocals that suggest fairytale lands beyond. Spectre sounds stalk the night air, calm and earnest against all the odds, and I hang around for a few numbers, and a few numbers more, before making my way again through the trail of lights to the underground.
The night is becoming a series of shuttle journeys between the Garden Stage and The Local in the trees, which is buzzing with tales of a reggae set from Natty that we'd just missed, so it's backwards again to get a good spot for Yo La Tengo at the Garden Stage. The luxurious arena is heaving, beautifully-lit and buzzing in anticipation, but the New Jersey retinue are a contrary bunch, and I love the fact that, by way of introduction, they hit the gathered masses with three of their avant-twee pop numbers back to back. It's obviously about to ascend, or descend, depending on your liking, into a subtle post rock rage, but I guess Yo La Tengo will be doing this with the same kind of nous in the year 3000, so it's off again into the night.
I'd missed Viking Moses earlier, and it's great to have the opportunity to catch them again on the same day. The Local tent is packed to the rafters, but I work my way in under the arches and reel to the opening songs, sung with a stunning, show-stopping indie grace by Ceylan Delikanli. Moses gyrate around her like a seven-person beast of visionary folk allure, and afterwards Delikanli recedes into handclapping duties, Brendon Massei taking over from the left to lead his variegated troupe through a set of mysterious indie-folk that sets the soul on fire. Massei himself has an amazing, apocalyptic voice, and he shares the rest of the vocal duties with another female member who sings along with a brilliant, effortless kind of soul. Drinks have possibly been taken, and the two cavort in brilliantly unhinged style, writhing round the stage together and blasting out tracks that leave us dancing and drooling in equal measure.
It's getting on a bit now, and David Broughton is quickly announced as the last act on. He's graciously allowed the previous band to cut into his set, but the twenty minutes he leaves us with are innovative and grand, his choirboy voice along with guitar and percussion rhythms being fed into an echo machine that helps him create beatific crescendos. Broughton is a remarkable act, calmly marching out of the tent after putting his bits and pieces into the echo machine and coming back again to put more in, and a piece where he sings grand madrigal lines into a mobile phone is not only profound but very, very funny. It's a nice high point to end the day on, and with stars shimmering in the clear sky, tomorrow seems like one heavenly promise.
- Neil Jones


- festivals.musicomh.com

THE FOREST OF NO RETURN
Independent, The (London), Jun 25, 2007 by Ian Hutton Director Esher

This was billed as an evening of classic Disney tracks interpreted by Jarvis Cocker and a host of artists, including Nick Cave, Grace Jones, Baaba Maal, Beth Orton, Pete Doherty and Shane MacGowan. So I was expecting something a bit different and was not disappointed. It was my first visit to the Royal Festival Hall since its [pound]115m refurbishment and whether the money spent on the auditorium has improved the acoustics since my last visit was hard to judge.


Although the previews had promised an appearance by Bryan Ferry, it was he rather than Pete Doherty who was the no-show on this occasion. In fact, Pete's delivery of "Chim Chim Cher-ee" ("from Mary Poppins" - as he helpfully informed us) was a high spot of the evening. Doherty played this one pretty straight as an acoustic number accompanying himself on guitar, and the audience loved it. It was a shame that he didn't make it out in the second act to join the Smoke Fairies (Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies) perform "Blue Shadows on the Trail", but then again, perhaps their haunting a cappella duet couldn't have been improved upon.
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The concert was a masterpiece, juxtaposing unlikely songs and performers. Nick Cave gave a predictably dark interpretation of "Hi- Diddle-Dee-Dee" from Pinocchio, reminiscent of his storming live performances of "The Mercy Seat". His duet with David Thomas on "Heigh-Ho" was also full of enough menace to put any children present off pantomime for life. Grace Jones proved herself to be the consummate diva by arriving on stage dressed as Kaa the python, in a billowing black cape and fishnets to sing a sinisterly serpentine version of "Trust in Me" from The Jungle Book. With so many artists appearing on stage it is impossible to highlight everyone, but Beth Orton gave strong performances of the songs she covered ("Baby Mine", "Stay Awake" and "Second Star to the Right"), and Shane MacGowan performing "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" is an experience I will not forget in a hurry.

Full credit must be given to Jarvis Cocker who orchestrated the event and brought his own inimitable touch to songs such as "I Wanna Be Like You" and "When You Wish Upon a Star". When I first saw the line-up, I wondered whether it was too ambitious a project, but apart from an hour's delay in starting, Jarvis Cocker and Hal Willner managed to pull it off without a hitch. Once again the Meltdown Festival amazes with its ability to condense such eclectic talents into one harmonious performance.

Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers UK Limited. All rights owned or operated by The Independent.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved. - Independent, The (London), Jun 25, 2007 by Ian Hutton Director Esher

Getting Ed and Gita Harcourt in as your backing band is a nice trick if you can pull it off. So's supporting Brian Ferry. But enough about their impressive credentials/friends in high places, Smoke Fairies deserve to be judged on their own merits.


Smoke Fairies are talented London duo Jessica Davies and Katherine Blamire, and their simple folk songs, infused with a touch of country and bluegrass, are really worth a listen.


The vocal harmonies and slide guitar on the languid Good Man invites comparisons to Knife In the Water, and the less well known, but equally worth checking out, Pete Greenwood. He's Moving On is an absolutely superb amalgamation of country and the sort of bluesy guitar that you associate with Gillian Welch. It's a spellbinding track upon which the duo sound completely sure of themselves. That's not always the case on every song here, but the musicality and the songwriting shines through on every track. Troubles, for example, manages to marry American slide guitar with English roots folk in a manner that I didn't think was possible.


The americana is completely done away with on the gentle Sea Shanty, and it's very much to the duo's credit that they're able to write in a range of styles so beautifully. That said, it's the dusty mid-western plain evoking Tonight that is the true gem on this EP. A tip of the Stetson is indeed in order.


- The Lobster Quadrille Magazine

http://www.tunetribe.com/Article?article_id=1652
02 May 2007
Smoke Fairies

Get acquainted with the freeflowing Americana/folk sound of female duo Smoke Fairies...

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A sepia-tinged Smoke Fairies
Available on tunetribe
Came A Winter EP - 320kbps by Smoke Fairies
Smoke Fairies
Came A Winter EP - 320kbps
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Strange The Things by Smoke Fairies
Smoke Fairies
Strange The Things
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"Once we shoved our demo down some radio DJ's trousers - it was when we were younger and there may have been some alcohol involved..."

Chichester duo Smoke Fairies have been playing together for a full decade and are testament to the value of doing things for yourself and not sitting around waiting to be noticed. For the band, despite currently being managerless and without a record deal, are in the middle of a slew of dates in support to Roxy Music legend Bryan Ferry, having auditioned for the role directly in front of the singer himself.


The band's Jessica spoke to TuneTribe about peddling their beguiling, Americana-influenced bluegrass folk upon stages much bigger than those upon which they have previously trodden, as well as tights getting stuck on guitars and the benefits of shoving demos down DJs' trousers...

What was it that drew you to working together initially and how have you stayed together for so long?

"When we first started playing we were 13. I guess we started because it was something funny to do and we thought it made us look cool. We thought that it would only be a matter of weeks before we were discovered and we could leave school. Staying together has been a real struggle over the years. It has affected a lot of decisions that we have had to make and at some points driven us insane. We do get on quite well and tend to find the same things funny, so it isn’t always hard."

You don't have a manager - how did you get the Bryan Ferry support?

"We have learnt that it is all about who you know. Our friend is in Bryan Ferry’s band and so when Bryan was looking for support acts he suggested us. We had to go to his studio for an audition - a pretty scary experience. We were both really nervous and to make matters worse when Kaf got her guitar out in front of him, there was a pair of tights stuck to the front of it for some reason! Still, he must have liked something about us because he asked us to be his opening act."


How have you found playing the bigger venues?

"The hours leading up to the first time we played a big venue were pretty nerve racking, but we have learnt that once you get on a large stage with a good sound system and spotlights it can be quite a calming experience. Wine helps a lot too! The Royal Albert Hall was the scariest, but we were so happy to be there that it became really fun. Despite its size it felt like a very intimate gig and we got the audience to go ‘arrghhh’ like pirates. That was one of those moments when you think 'why am I here and why am I pretending to be a pirate all of a sudden?'"

Are you looking for a record label?

"A label would be nice. We have quite a shameless approach to giving out demos - we will give them or send them to anybody who we think might be able to help us in some way. If we see someone important while we are out and about we will always try and force a demo on them, even if it can sometimes be embarrassing and awkward. Once we shoved our demo down some radio DJ’s trousers - it was when we were younger and there may have been some alcohol involved…"

What are your main influences, both musical and non-musical?

"A lot of the earliest musical influences came from my mum’s record collection -musicians like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, America, Joni Mitchell, The Grateful Dead. More recently, artists like Ryan Adams, Ed Harcourt, Gillian Welch, 16 Horse Power, Eliza Carthy, Mark Lanegan and the slide player Johnny Dickinson. Non-musically we used to be really influenced by trains but more recently we have become slightly obsessed with writing songs about the sea and sailors."

You've spent some time in the States and Canada – what led to this?

"Back in 2002 we went and studied in New Orleans for a year. It was pretty devastating having to come back to England after our Visas ran out and it had given us a taste of what kind of lives we could live outside the UK. Once we had graduated from university we made a pact to pick somewhere and go a live there for a year. We chose Vancouver and moved there without knowing anyone there or really anything about the city. It was a pretty crazy time. I made coffees for a living and Kaf walked dogs."

How did this time away from England influence what you do?

"Lyrically, it has allowed us to explore themes associated with leaving people and places behind. Stylistically it has had the biggest impact. In New Orleans we were exposed to the huge range of genres that the Deep South is famous for. There was such a vibrant music scene there and we were encouraged and inspired by some great musicians. I think that as a result our musical style became rooted in blues and country, but in living away from England we have also gained a greater fascination in our country’s own traditional styles. As a result I think we have become a fusion of the creepiest vibes from both countries."

What's the best advice you've ever received regarding music?

"Once, when I was getting scared about going on tour my mum told me to take courage. It sounds a bit poetic and over the top, but I think trying to do anything that requires such dedication and yet has such an uncertain future takes a lot of courage. You need to have courage to pursue music instead of going down the safe career route that everyone expects you to. Sometimes it is easy to forget that it is the uncertainty of trying to have a music career that makes it so exciting and that it beats the monotony of having a regular job."

What are your plans for the rest of this year?

"We are going to concentrate on making a new record and finding a label. Failing that, we are going to start considering properly setting up our own label. We love touring, so it would be really great if we could do some more of that this year. Hopefully we will sort out another support slot."

What are your ultimate ambitions with Smoke Fairies?

"It would be really nice if we could get to the stage where we could give up our temp jobs and earn a living doing music."



Smoke Fairies are appearing at: Bournemouth International Centre (9 May); Corn Exchange, Cambridge (10); The Rock Garden, London (27); Green Note, London (31); FOPP, London (15 June); Pavilion, Plymouth (20); Millfield Arts Centre, London (30); Wye Fayre Festival, Kent (7 July).


- Tune Tribe

Review: Signed/Unsigned
• Posted on December 13, 2006 6:30 PM
• 0 comments
SIGNED/UNSIGNED
Hackney Empire, London
December 13th 2006
By Paul Case
No less than eight bands on tonight at the Hackney Empire, and all for absolutely free. Can't ask for any more than that. Free beer would be nice, but, aside from stealing booze from house parties, that is but a dream. Amidst the loud chatter of those clearly not interested in music, which admittedly affected my listening skills (I'm going deaf anyway) some good 'uns shine through.
Kicking off proceedings tonight is Stubbs, and he plays some low-key, decent enough acoustic-folk malarky that is extremely pleasing. Good, melodic voice, and anyone who has the balls to get up there on their own - especially being on first - gets my vote. Unfortunately this bit's a tad skimpy, as the loudness of the bar and the quietness of the music were at odds. What I heard, though, was pleasant enough.
Next up is another acoustic act, but much stronger shades of country and Americana with a good smattering of plaintive Billy Bragg-style vocals. Phillius Williams is a bit rough around the edges, but polish isn't what this kind of music is about. The vocals are untrained in that really good way, unfiltered by fashion and just plain honest. Williams strums his guitar with real vigour too. Good stuff.
The Onion Club are probably the most unassuming band on tonight - and, somewhere under all that demure, there's a really good band fighting to get out. Their tunes are patient, again predominantly acoustic and generally mellow takes on acoustic/folky indie rock. Not bad at all.
The first act to truly capture the night's attention is Mika Sellens, who has backing tonight from an understated bloke who plays some particularly lovely and unobtrusive accompaniment. Sellins has a top voice which calmly floats over simple melodies. And when the cello comes out - which we're all secretly or not so secretly a complete sucker for - it really is quite an ear-grabbingly delicate dynamic. Nothing groundbreaking, but who needs to be challenged when there's elementary loveliness right in front of you? And anyone who covers 'You Say It Best' by Ronan Keating and makes it sound good has got to be worth your time.
The next band are pretty good too, and I think they're called Schwab. Regardless, there's a really strong lead singer who belts out a confident voice. Their acoustic guitar has the counterpart of an atmospheric electric, which lends the band an ambient texture that isn't often heard in their straightforward but decent take on mellow folk rock. Plus, even though their music doesn't require it, they rock out from time to time. Nice.
But it's Smoke Fairies who are quite possibly the best thing tonight. Two ladies armed only with acoustic guitars and perfectly harmonising vocals, they come across as a British version of the classic Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss pairing. Not quite sure what it is, but their rhythmic, repetitive guitars and their voices are truly hypnotic and seem to be floating around in their own world. A fragile and beautiful sound, their lyrics are full of the kind of misery and woe I fully expect (nay, demand) from this music. Sample lyric I heard through the smoky haze: "I ain't got no money/and nowhere to run to", which also recall Welch and Krauss and other country/folk luminaries. They're not re-inventing the wheel or anything, but they have an atmosphere that's all theirs. Plus, an incredibly welcome Iron and Wine cover is thrown in at the end. Bonus.
Michael J. Sheery are the most polished act tonight, but it's exactly their lack of rough edge that makes them a little tiring after a couple of songs. Another band on the list that've absorbed country, but also throwing a little blues around, their sound is fairly workman-like. I'm not sure why - they sing about cheating wives, drinking and murdering, all the things you expect... but I think it's their unwillingness to throw in anything truly unexpected, and sticking with what's safe. They seem to be imitating rather than emoting, and at the end of the day it all sounds a little samey. Not a bad band in any way, just the kind that sort of drifts by your ears.
And it's a little confusing what to make of Paul The Girl. She is a girl - but I didn't get her real name (unless she is called Paul, and her Dad listened to A Boy Named Sue an awful lot but didn't get a son). Holding her electric, she starts off with some fairly messy but charmingly rough tunes akin to Rid of Me-era PJ Harvey before spinning off into some bizarre, freewheeling fretwanking that, after the initial interest has worn off, gets a bit boring. To her credit, she plays with passion, and seems to be trying to incorporate psychedelia into her one-woman band and it becomes fairly obvious why no one's bothered before. I know it sounds harsh, but when Paul The Girl is being restrained, it works. When she flies off the handle, "less is more" has never sounded more appropriate. Still, at least she stands out tonight. And loads of people seemed to really like her, so go and see for yourself can be my only advice, I guess.
Capping off the night are The Rebeccaswith some very indie rock sounding indie rock. After a completely incoherent mess of an opening, their set soon settles into some disarmingly lovely jangly melodies in the style of Broken Social Scene. While the three-way vocals are a bit lazy, the music at times is genuinely full of life with some great, Mogwai-lite build ups with keyboards, guitars and drums a-whirling. At the moment, The Rebeccas are a decent enough act. With a bit of tightening here and there, and some more confident, strident playing, they could be a genuinely impressive slice of melody-laden indie pop. Nice start.
So, that ends the evening. Worth free entry, for sure. But, as a PS, don't let my negative reviews of some of the bands put you off - remember, I was watching them in a loud, chatty bar. I say go and see these bands, make your own minds up, and support a clearly thriving independent scene populated by a community of people who're doing it for nothing and just want to make music. And that, in all cases tonight, deserves your reverence.
- Paul Case

Artist: Smoke Fairies

CD: Strange the Things

Home: London, England

Style: Folk/Bluegrass

Quote: "Haunting. Tuneful. Musically accomplished. If you want a four-word review for this duo, there it is."

By Todd Beemis

Haunting. Tuneful. Musically accomplished. If you want a four-word review for this duo, there it is -- but let's give it a bit more consideration, shall we?

With a minimalistic acoustic guitar making lace doilies of music with a hammer dulcimer and other folk instruments, Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies have knitted the soundtrack of those swampy summer afternoons in the backwaters of the Mississippi, when the sun cannot penetrate the tree canopy and the rustles in the water could be a gator as much as a catfish.

The languid nature of the music, however, should not be taken as a lazy approach to the music. In fact, this band is truly amazing in that they did not grow up amidst the kudzu and cajuns -- no, these ladies are from the UK. And the fact that they sound so damn real is a testament not only to the power of their talent but to the infectious and powerful nature of the music of the delta as well.

Perhaps with the departure of so many musicians from the New Orleans scene post-Katrina, these ladies could be persuaded to leave their land of pints, pubs and Wayne Rooney to set up shop in that city and bring a much-needed infusion of new talent and accomplished musicianship. Well, you can always hope -- but personally, I'd never live in a country that didn't care about foot ... er ... soccer. - Indie Music

Sound:
The dreamy, fragile folk of a wonderful afternoon reverie... These two girls produce just about the loveliest two part harmonies you're likely to hear, accompanied by (sometimes twisted) acoustic melodies and slide guitar.

Sounds like:
Cat Power covering Laura Cantrell; ancient folk vibes, filtered through the centuries, via a wandering troubadour's battered guitar case. Their music is pure, timeless and brilliantly evocative.. the outstanding "Troubles" has a sultry, pulsing country-blues feel, hovering on the edge of a musical precipice but never quite topping over.

Worth a mention:
Katherine and Jessica have been virtually inseparable since their schooldays, have sung and played their way around America, and lived in both New Orleans and Vancouver. This month they're supporting none other than Bryan Ferry on his major UK tour.

Contact:
A quarter of an hour spent checking out a sample of their wares at myspace.com/smokefairies will be time well spent. The sheer weight of download requests for their songs once made their own website (www.smokefairies.com) crash but their you'll find a highly entertaining biography and some great pictures. - Sound on Sound