Tag Archives: Ferris & Sylvester

02.26.18
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Ferris & Sylvester, August And After & Lozt – Cambridge Boat House – February 23rd 2018

As my plans to move to Spain edge ever closer, I’m keen that Sonic Breakfast will still host gig reviews from the UK. My good friend, Paul Champion, has covered a couple in Leicester and now the lovely Katy Adkins reports from Cambridge after a happy Friday night. 

 

Sonic Breakfast introduced me to Ferris and Sylvester with its blog (here) about their newly released EP, Made In Streatham (Jan 31st 2018) and it was a love-at-first-listen affair. Over the last month this has been my go-to music and I’ve felt that inquisitive longing to get to know their work more extensively. Last night’s gig in Cambridge has left me temporarily sated. 

After a drive of just over an hour, with my +1 sidekick in tow we arrived at The Boathouse, Cambridge, to find just a single parking space available and it was directly outside the venue – joy!  This adventure was going very smoothly so far and there was a growing sense of excited anticipation for what was to come. 

The Boathouse is part of a popular chain of gastro-pubs and seemed an unlikely venue: we found that we were not the only people to find themselves questioning the bar staff about whether we were in fact in the correct place.  We were directed through a small door, upstairs to the intimate function room, where seats were set out in front of a small, warmly-lit stage area.  Whilst waiting for the acts to prepare and as people arrived I learned that this was one of a number of warm-up gigs being hosted around Cambridge by the organisers of The Den Stage as part of The Cambridge Folk Festival set to take place in August 2018.  They whet the appetite of potential crowds with up and coming acts whom have already graced The Den stage or those who are expecting to later this year. 

 (To read about the support acts, click on page 2)

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01.31.18
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Ferris & Sylvester – Made In Streatham

Today, I’m wearing colourful socks. As part of my efforts to sort out drawers and wardrobes before heading off to Spain I’ve been decluttering. And yesterday evening, it was the sock and pant drawer that got a going over. 

Some decisions were easy. Some pairs of pants had seen better days in the gusset department and the novelty thong-like ones were never a good idea in the first place. I did wonder how I had come to acquire a collection of so many individual black and grey socks. How had they been festering in this drawer for so long? How were these sole socks in any way useful? I couldn’t bear the pain of matching them so the bin now has them.

Result – my sock and pant drawer now looks tidy and vibrant. I mightn’t wear many colourful clothes (black jacket, blue jeans being my go-to position) but I can excel in colourful socks. The bright yellow socks I kept are a sheer delight.

In other news, I’ve been enjoying a sneaky listen to the excellent new EP from Ferris & Sylvester which comes out on Friday. ‘Made In Streatham’ has 5 tracks on it all loosely detailing what modern life in London is like for this aspiring country-folk-pop duo.

They recently released a video for a fine track ‘Better In Yellow’. It’s an uplifting slice of bluesy Americana, which finds the pair adding big brass notes into their mix of guitar licks and beautiful harmonies. 

When asked about the song’s meaning the band say, “We liked the idea of writing about yellow being a positive state of mind, happy and vibrant, instead of settling for greyness. It can be easy to wear black and blend in. Sometimes though, it’s best to be yourself, put on some bright colours and not care too much.”

Which is exactly what I’m doing with my socks.

Another track from the EP, The Room, caught Sonic Breakfast’s attention in 2017. Like some of the finer moments of The Beautiful South, this duet (and accompanying video) charts the ups and downs in a fragile relationship between a couple. It’s both optimistic and desperate, beautiful and sad. And it’s definitely worth five minutes of your time.