With support from Neve Cariad and Sam King.
The Brudenell Social Club is looking spick and span for tonight’s free gig, showcasing emerging musicians who have made Leeds their home. Mirrors gleaming, banquette seating around the edge of the venue is spotless.
As the doors open, I find myself sitting with an audience member – Alec – who has just arrived from Spain and we are soon deep in conversation; sharing our love of venues like this that sustain a vibrant music scene … or is it our love of the music scenes that sustain venues like this?
As Sam King takes the stage with a band of musicians, dappled in golden stage light reflected from the mirror ball above, the audience is around 70 people strong…. It has doubled by the time they finish their first song. Beyond the music, their delight at playing on the Brudenell’s main stage – “a dream come true” – is infectious and when Sam announces, with a gentle Scouse accent, that he has just quit his job, the audience cheers.
Though Sam is clearly a skilled singer and guitar player who makes music both enchanting and delicate, his band are able to act as a mini orchestra (with fiddle and cello and various effects pedals). Together, they create an impressive ‘wall of sound’ with sprawling songs that – at least to my ears – feel like they have as many roots in King Crimson’s Red as more traditional British folk, like Nick Drake.
At this point, the room has completely filled. Neve Cariad follows next; singing sweet, languid vocals as she plays guitar with a band that capture the sound of a cinematic kind of Americana. It’s reminiscent of the likes of Dusty Springfield within a classic Quentin Tarantino movie soundtrack. Each dreamy song is played with the precision of a recording and laden with lyrics that leave you feeling like you have read an award-winning book of short stories… one that you are not quite prepared to close.
I settle into familiarity with the traditional keys, drums and guitar sound, then at the edge of the stage keyboardist, Charlie, unexpectedly sneaks out what looks like a trumpet for a climactic end to the set.
Finally, it is time for Rhiannon Hope and if the highlights of the night so far included skilled and sometimes multi-instrumentalists … well now the stage was full of them! With Maya providing a steady bass rhythm, Rhiannon swaps between squeeze box and guitar, Nelson the keyboardist grabs a fiddle and – most surprisingly – Ludo the drummer picks up a banjo.
All together, this is a captivating feast for eyes as well as ears.
Drawing on both jazz and folk, Rhiannon uses vibrato like you might use hot sauce at a barbeque – on everything! – and the audience love it. She introduces songs with short stories about their meaning, sometimes giggling with disbelief at “so many people” making it to the gig on a weeknight. Songs about the different paths life takes, about how much things change and the pleasures of a walk in the rain. Before you know it she tells the audience “We are playing you EVERYTHING. We have no more songs” and the evening ends with new single Magpie, and a surprise appearance by saxophonist, Joseph Barron.
Making good use of the talents of the Brudenell’s resident sound engineer Trevor “Trev” Baines, it’s been an evening of music and performance that completely commanded our attention – with frequent surprises. An evening where you heard what felt like every song the musicians had written together, and where each other’s musicianship was as much an inspiration as their broad-ranging influences. An evening of music made for listening to unguardedly and quietly.
Learn more about Sam King here.
Learn more about Neve Cariad here.
Learn more about Rhiannon Hope here.
…..and discover The Brudenell Social Club and their regular free gigs (if you haven’t already) here.
Photography by Geraldine Montgomerie. Main image: Nelson, Ludo, Rhiannon and Maya.
