It was a busy day for me yesterday.
The Greenlight festival was a huge success and as expected the music went down incredibly well. I’ll write more about that another time.
Last night, I went along to a lovely Leicester venue, the Musician. It’s been my mainstay for watching live music now for longer than I can remember – fab staff and always great production, sound and live music whatever the genre.
It was a showcase night and there were four wildly different but good acts on. I might well write about the others some other time but this is a posting about the opening band of the night, Steady Hands.
It’s the third time now that I’ve seen them this year. I first saw them on a cold January Sunday night and was blown away. From what I understand, this five piece (currently) are all studying at Birmingham Conservatoire and that classical training is never far from the surface in what they project. With a sound based around the keyboard and acoustic guitar of front man, Josh Herring, it’s layered with double bass, violin, clarinet and percussion to make a very timeless cacophony. It’s pop without a doubt but not pap. Clever, intelligent lyrics dispatched in a void that exists somewhere between Sufjan Stevens and The Divine Comedy. Last night, they played their song ‘The Librarian’ which strikes me as a a direct descendent of Hannon’s ‘The Booklovers’.
Indie rock this is not. It’s full of ideas and not for everyone I suspect… But here’s a link to an EP of theirs. Give it a listen over your cornflakes..
sonicbreakfast 