Today is the first Sunday matinee show that The Trades Club has hosted in many years.
Blackout blinds hide the afternoon sun and pendant lights highlight the fresh flowers that decorate the tables on velvet upholstered booths at each side of the ‘live room’. Above the bar in the corner, a wooden plaque announces that the venue, which recently celebrated its 100th birthday, is “By the people, for the people”.
The first act on the double bill is Ailsa Tully and her band who, together, create lingering, hypnotic music, perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Bass player and vocalist, Ailsa, has a direct way of speaking to introduce the band, their merchandise, their songs and their gratitude at a well-attended gig, despite the nearby Todmorden Folk Festival.
When she sings, however, Ailsa’s voice becomes sweeter, almost treacly, complementing bandmate Tom’s jazzy guitar and Jovis‘s almost ambient synth and gentle backing vocals. Their songs take you on journeys along canals, in search of love and getting used to different rooms on the way to finding a home.
Ailsa and Jovis relocated to Hebden Bridge last summer, only to discover Jovis’s old friend and now their new guitarist, Tom, once they’d settled in. The story makes you think that this is where they are meant to be.
Next is a brief interval ahead of the main act of the evening – Belfast-based artist Mark McCambridge, also known as ARBORIST. To prepare the audience for music described as “devastatingly bleak” by Mojo magazine, between sets songs include famously miserable music by Spiritualized and Radiohead.
With the audience suitably refreshed and melancholy, ARBORIST takes the stage, dressed in smart black trousers, leather shoes and a country-and-western style black, button-up shirt with red piping and embroidered red roses. So begins a one-man show accompanied by drum machine rhythm alternating between keys and guitar, to play songs that span space travel, time travel, art and football.
Songs also span genres and geography. One moment you are listening to songs like Black Halo, with the Americana sound of the Gretsch guitar and generous wobble of a tremolo arm that bring to mind Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game. In the next moment, you are listening to the traditional Irish ballad, and early Pogues’ b-side, “The Leaving of Liverpool”. And, yep, the tone is critical of the time we live in and where power and value are placed, at times the music is solemn (yet hauntingly beautiful) and – yes – there is more than a hint of Leonard Cohen… but I would say that it is a wry sense of humour, not deep sadness, that is the common factor here.
Nevertheless, the highlight of the show – and what demonstrates the warmth and joy that could be overlooked in this performance – was a song that I felt only ARBORIST could sing. It’s a song called Blanchflowers, that has not yet appeared on a recording and is dedicated to the experience of decades of playing eleven-a-side football. It is named after the stadium dedicated to the Northern Irish footballer, Danny Blanchflower.
Here, the camaraderie and connections formed through place and pastime are elevated in a
way that is so incredibly compelling and relatable that I think it has shifted my feelings about
sport. ARBORIST faces a challenge in what he can play live as a solo act – he has recorded
more music, often in collaboration, than what can feasibly be recreated today – but the
stories behind the music, and songs like this one, highlight what you gain in coming to see
him.
If you enjoy music by people and for people, with imagination alongside all of the complexity and ups and downs of life, do give ARBORIST a listen.
Learn more about Ailsa Tully here.
Learn more about ARBORIST here.
Learn more about award-winning venue The Trades Club here.
Photography by Geraldine Montgomerie.
