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REVIEW - ABERFELDY
Islington Academy
YOU only have to hear the first few bars of forgotten single
Love is an Arrow to fall head over heels in love with Aberfeldy,
three boys and two girls from Edinburgh whose enchanting lo-fi is
just about the best thing I’ve heard live this year.
Disarmingly infectious, their melodic mix of acoustic guitar, delicate
xylophones and plucking violin came alive at the Bar Islington Academy
on Monday night.
The sad truth is Aberfeldy have been shamefully overlooked in the
last year or so.
Their first batch of songs and their cute album Young Forever seems
to have slipped through the net. While they should have been quirky
outsiders for the Mercury Award, they have instead been plink-plonking
away on their glockenspiel in a darkened room, dreaming up new ballads
for a follow-up.
Jeeeez. If even a half-decent radio jock had given Love is an Arrow
a chance, the band might not be still pushing tour T-shirts on stage.
The gig would probably cost more than the bargain £7 door
tax it did here, either.
This was a low-key affair – full of over-25s – but it
was a minor triumph. There wasn’t a bad song on offer here,
a rare final sum by any gig’s standards.
And even when dishing out their most airy-fairy schmaltz, Aberfeldy
appeal.
Singer Riley Briggs brought the band together at a Scottish folk
festival a few years back but this session had more echoes of Belle
And Sebastian and The Magic Numbers than obscure, beardy fiddle
music.
Sure, there was violin and banjo but there were swirling keys, a
few bleeps and a restless drummer too. In fact I thought, at the
risk of upsetting every Converse boot wearing man in London, they
were better than The Magic Numbers.
Briggs’s understated vocals draw together what could have been
a jumble, one moment he is a confident, bantering stageman –
the next he is brooding over his guitar, looking slightly geeky
in a 1980s sweatband, cooing over a lost love. It works a treat.
There are livelier moments. The surf guitar of new single Summer’s
Gone is great, bubbling opener. Friend Like Me is another record
that might have more of a splash and Dress Like the 1970s is the
band at full blast.
But it was with lilting songs like Love is an Arrow that Aberfeldy
made new friends in Islington.
If only one of you go out and buy an Aberfeldy record as a result
of this review, then my work here will be done.
Demo of the week – That’s all
folks
WE laughed, we cried, we cried some more, we almost cut our throats
on the mock-Coldplay trash and we discovered some great music for
the future. But I’m afraid Demo of the Week-sters, the party
seems to have sadly come to an end and this is the last edition
of your favourite unsigned feature.
The happy people have gone home, there are no more beers in the
bath, washing up is stacking up in the sink, the DotW flat is a
mess and it’s time to say goodnight.
To finish, we recap on the four best bands featured in this column
over the last 18 months, effectively the crème de la crème,
the ones to watch.
• THE PIGEON DETECTIVES – Recent winners, this band should
go all the way. Their new material needs a bit of studio polish
and it will knock spots off the Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand.
• THE SOHO DOLLS – Grooves fell in love with their icy
electro-guitar soundclash many moons ago. They’ve published
a couple of singles now and are on the verge of great things.
• JOSIE BENSON – A simply beautiful voice which brought
the soulful side of four by four garage music to the page.
• THE SCHA LA LAS – The first ever DotW winners. Still
gigging, still causing a riot.
Thanks to everyone that has sent in a promo whether it ended up
on rotation on the Grooves hi-fi or as a coaster. We tried to feature
as much music as possible but if you are in that punk-metal-skate-whatever
band from St Albans – it was never going to happen. If you
are a pushy promoter who threw a tantrum because your act didn’t
make it, you too won’t be missed. But it was all made worthwhile
by the stream of guitar hopefuls and bedroom DJs who often sound
better than the pap sent through by signed acts.
CLICK HERE FOR LISTINGS
A week to remember on the circuit
PREVIEWS - Various Locations
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Artur Pizarro
Imogen Cooper
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THIS week sees performances by some of the most admired pianists
on the classical circuit. At St John’s Smith Square on
Thursday Artur Pizarro is performing the second recital in his series
which will see the complete works of the two great musical impressionists
Ravel and Debussy.
This concert includes work from between 1895 and 1904 so we get
Debussy’s Estampes, Masques, D’un cahier d’esquisses,
L’Isle joyeuse, Morceau de concours, and from Ravel, his Serenade
grotesque, Pavane, Jeux d’eau and Sonatine. Pizarro has become
one of the world’s most regular performers, appearing at the
delightful Aldeburgh Festival, Wigmore Hall and even the Musee D’Orsay.
Pianist Imogen Cooper is to be joined by the English Piano Trio
and actor Christopher Ravenscroft at a recital in the Jerwood Hall,
LSO St Luke’s on Wednesday, performing Hayn’s Sonata in
C Major and Schumann’s Kreisleriana.
At the Wigmore, also on Wednesday, Angela Hewitt is performing numbers
1-24 of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier – as this page has
noted before she is one of the great exponents of Bach in world.
Meanwhile at Conway Hall on Sunday, and part of the London Chamber
Music Series, husband and wife team John and Fiona York, known as
York 2, are performing some terrific duets. They received great
acclaim for their Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring – an
immense achievement. It is so rare to find duet concerts so this
should be a treat. It features Kenneth Leighton’s Sonata for
Four Hands, Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole and Schubert’s
Fantasie in F Minor.
Society baroque the house
REVIEW - HAMPSTEAD SINFONIETTA
St Mark’s, Primrose Hill by Sarah Dawes
The Royal Free Music Society and the Hampstead Sinfonietta chose
four glorious pieces for their concert last Saturday at their usual
venue, St Mark’s Church, Primrose Hill.
The orchestra began with an animated interpretation of William Boyce’s
Fifth Symphony. Boyce held the post of composer to the Chapel Royal
in 1736 aged only 25, and was a great admirer of Handel, who by
that time was established as a composer in England. The choir followed
with one of Handel’s four superb Coronation Anthems, written
for George II.
The second movement was beautifully matched by the enchanting cello
accompaniment and the final chorus of Alleluias inspired the choir
almost to challenge the supremacy of Handel’s more famous setting
of Hallelujah. The trumpets worked hard and having them play from
the organ gallery made logistic sense and enhanced the sparkling
drama of the piece. Certainly a diamond!
After the interval we jumped forward in time to the early 20th century
to hear Gerald Finzi’s Romance for Strings. It has an affinity
with the work of Elgar and Vaughan Williams; both of whom were contemporaries.
Three gifted soloists joined the choir and orchestra for the final
treat, Schubert’s Mass in G, which he wrote aged 18. In some
movements it seemed the choir were accompanying the orchestra rather
than the reverse. This perhaps has the effect of making the words
subordinate to the music and it has been suggested that Schubert
was critical “of certain ecclesiastical dogmas”.
Nevertheless the Credo is one of the most exciting movements with
a terrific climax. The mass is a remarkable work and the soloists,
choir and orchestra conveyed their enjoyment of it with a robust
interpretation, which delighted their audience. It was a pity that
more people did not take the opportunity to enjoy the efforts of
this talented group. Previous charitable concerts have been well
attended so perhaps it is time to consider this approach again.
The Royal Free Music Society meets on Thursdays at 7pm in Peter
Samuel Hall at the Royal Free Hospital. See www.rfms.org.uk
CLICK HERE FOR LISTINGS
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Give power to the people
POST-war, early 1950s Britain was still experiencing food rationing
and was a disillusioning place for English gourmands. The war had
destroyed the restaurant trade and, with few exceptions, post-war
eateries made the worst of a bad situation.
FULL STORY
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