Hmmm…A freezing Friday. I sense that we’re all going to need something bouncy and quirky to get us through to the weekend.
Enter Twin Hidden, a new duo to me, who might be from Manchester or might be from London. Matthew Shribman and Sam Lea have just released ‘Join Hands’ and I think it’s blooming exciting.
After an intro that sounds just like the opening chimes to an episode of Skins, a falsetto vocal urges us to ‘come step outside, the world has changed.‘ Amidst a piano that builds and falls and an assortment of percussive, positive beats, we’re almost charmed into thinking that love is in the air and that we’re about to witness a couple taking their first steps together. “Come, lead me away to your favourite place. I’ve been waiting for us to join hands” sing Twin Hidden as the chorus crescendo’s and the hardest of hearts almost defrosts…
Almost defrosts but such sweetness is snatched away as the song takes a sinister tumble…
“Pick up my calls, I’ve penned a pile of letters many metres tall for you”, they sing and you bump back down to earth realising that the joyful companionship initially described is perhaps little more than an obsession; an unrequited love that will never bear fruit…
Inevitable comparisons will be drawn to Alt-J and Everything Everything. You can see why but there’s a quirky sense of humour coming from Twin Hidden not always evident in the earnestness of the aforementioned.
Billy Lockett has a cheeky charm that it’s hard not to warm towards. He might be one step away from super-stardom or he might have already peaked, safe in the knowledge that his latest EP has touched the I-tunes top 40. Either way, the audience on this Sunday night at Nottingham’s Bodega are caught up in the infectious wide-eyed enthusiasm with which he goes about his craft. Interspersed throughout the set, he plays three new songs, all of which he has a good feeling about. “I think this is going to be the big one but then I say that about every song I’ve written”, he repeats until funny.
For much of this set, Billy is content to sit behind a white electric piano and allow us to relax into this. A roaming, orange spotlight threatens to give us all migraines in the initial parts but this is quickly faded to a more Sunday appropriate and less frantic blue. Support act, Karima Francis, has already observed in one of her chatty, smiley diversions in between songs that “Sunday gigs are for people coming down from drugs.” Billy briefly leaves the comfort of his piano to show off his impressive guitar skills but it’s the keyboard, backing tape and his soulful, clean voice that take most prominence.
He’s at his best when he’s dealing with raw and tender emotional stuff. Songs and stories about and for his Dad who passed away earlier this year loom large. ‘Your Love Hurts’ was Dad’s favourite Billy song and you can tell that it means a lot to Billy when he sings it. Plenty of reverb and echo on the voice add to the emotional effect. He saves the single from the top 40, Radio 1 backed EP to last but the quirky, jaunty tune about his relationship with his ‘Old Man’ is lapped up by the audience.
As popular as Coldplay might be (they’re not in these quarters), I wish that Billy’s one cover of the night (Magic by Codplay) was left out of the set for an extra one of his own. Billy tells us all a story of how he was involved in a marriage proposal set-up whilst busking in London and then ponders what it must be like to be married whilst falling in love with a serving soldier. Mostly, the sentiment within the set stays on the right side of a heartstring tug but there are moments that are a bit too much for this cynical, cold, hack.
“Nottingham, that’s the best it’s gone on this tour,” beams Billy as ‘Winning Team’, his audience participation, clapping and singing ode to his manager draws to a close. As a song, it charts the progress made and friendship built on his career to date. The audience seem to appreciate the honest focus that Billy brings to songs such as this and ‘Pathways’, comments on how tough and how persistent you have to be as an unsigned artist in these days of Instant yet fleeting fame from TV talent contests.
Billy tells us that he won’t be playing live for some time now that this tour is coming to an end. He’s clearly a very talented, hard-working performer and few in the audience would deny him the chance to grace stages larger than this in future years. Those who take a stance against the popular and the derivative might disagree. It remains to be seen if his 15 minutes of fame have already passed or if in 2015, one of his ‘new songs’ propels him further forward. I think, on balance, I’m hoping for the latter.
Earlier this year, I blogged about Elliot Moss, the 20 year old Neo-crooner from New York. His song, Slip, made quite an impression on me and I simply had to feature it (link here).
I’d had no prior contact with Elliot so I was delighted that he seemed genuinely happy with my little post – so happy that he insisted on sending me a beautifully designed digi-pak CD of his album, Highspeeds, across the ocean. Shipping costs were considerable but Elliot, to his absolute credit, was insistent.
I tend to listen to CD’s whilst driving in my car. Highspeeds has been one that has been on regular rotation over the summer. I’ve made a point of playing it to passengers and it’s rarely failed to grab attention.
Thus, I’m chuffed that Elliot’s career really seems to now be picking up momentum.
I’m hardly an authority on notable remixers but judging by their Facebook and Twitter profiles, Hippie Sabotage, two brothers from Sacromento, are at the top of their game. The fact that they’ve chosen to remix ‘Slip’ gives me hope that tunes of real quality might eventually get the profile they deserve.
When the starting point is as strong as ‘Slip’, it would need some excessively clumsy hands to mess the mix up. Hippie Sabotage are too good at their craft for such an eventuality. The lovely original, laced with a lingering, laidback soul-filled feel is given an extra fizz and energy. We’re still in the realms of chill but it’s a bit earlier in the evening now.
Elliot Moss has also been announced as the main support on a Cold War Kids U.S. tour in 2015. An unlikely alliance on the surface perhaps but a fine opportunity all the same. I once saw Cold War Kids at Glastonbury. I also saw them at Summer Sundae.. But, those are tales for other days. I hope it’s not long before Elliot’s growing stature means that some U.K. dates are announced.
Maybe if I had paid more attention in French history classes I would have appreciated that Cardinal Mazarin was a Prime Minister in France in the 1600’s. And the term, Mazarine, pertains to him. He has a good Movember look.
The Mazarine Library is the oldest public library in France. It houses the Mazarine Bible.
Mazarine Blue is a deep blue colour. It’s also the name of a butterfly, extinct in these parts. I guess this butterfly was deep blue in colour.
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon this charming video by The Mazarines, a duo from Los Angeles. It won the International I phone film festival, an award I didn’t even know existed until discovering that The Mazarines had won it. The Mazarines shoot all of their videos with a simple I phone. Can you imagine how complicated that might be? Sometimes, admittedly in states of inebriation, I struggle to send a text on mine.
Summer Wine is a stunner. The Mazarines know their history as they update a Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood classic. They add a Gallic fuzzy glamour to this 1960’s gem; a deep blue to the innocence of the original.
Renee Faia, female singer within The Mazarines, is no stranger to these 1960’s tributes having previously played Cher in an ABC biopic about Sonny And Cher. Such quality on display is perhaps no surprise with such pedigree.
Summer Wine – worthy of a Tuesday morning winter sip.
sonicbreakfast 