Though this might have been the third outing for the Indigo Sessions team, I missed the second one so I’ll have to mark this down as number two for my records, just to avoid confusion for my legions of accountants (shut up, let me have this…). Once again, there was a top quality night of music on show at Zigfrid von Underbelly in Hoxton – here are my thoughts on the evening;
After arriving slightly late – Old Street tube station is far too complex for my liking – I still managed to see a little over half of the set from Jarell who combined his soulful voice with familiar acoustic guitar tones whilst accompanied by some delicate electric guitar melodies that were so wonderfully sparse that they never dominated the sound, instead simply adding to the warmth of the performance. The sound throughout was pleasant and relaxed and the culmination of the set in a duet with Danny G was a brilliant choice as the pair harmonised beautiful, kicking off the evening in stylish fashion.
https://soundcloud.com/jarell-ebuka-enujuba/help-me-understand-draft
Following on from Jarell was a rather different sound in the form of Alexa Dark, a New York native whose sound was somewhat of a toned down version of 90s grunge, with an added element of some old-school skiffle which provided an interesting, yet most certainly welcome, style. Alexa’s voice had the customary laid back attitude that you’d expect to accompany such a sound as this, at times a little more stage presence would go a long way. The addition of a lead guitarist would definitely go far yet the overall sound of the trio was impressive and there’s plenty of potential there for some killer tracks in the near future.
https://soundcloud.com/alexadark/blur-1
Now, I’m somewhat conflicted. Despite taking almost a fortnight to piece this together (day job etc.) I still can’t quite make up my mind about FlashFires. In essence, they had a cracking sound which would have had me utterly enthralled a few years ago. This was the purest case of 00s indie that I’ve come across in a long time and, with a drummer who can sing harmonies as well as their’s, the band should have had me eating out of the palm of their hand. Yet there was one thing troubling me throughout. Why 3 guitarists? With this sound there’s generally no need for more than 2 and at times it felt like one of them needed some more inspired riffs to play. That being said, all 3 of them certainly knew their craft well and it would be hard to pick one to lay down their axe. Perhaps Alex Gonzato could focus more on his frontman abilities, which were handled with all the swagger of a young Alex Turner. They’re still a little rough around the edges but the songs they’re writing are floor-fillers.
https://soundcloud.com/flashfiresmusic/gifts-with-tax
Finally it was the turn of Fragile Creatures to entertain the crowd. Despite having a much more relaxed aura about them in comparison to their predecessors, there was a certain quiet confidence surrounding the band as they created sounds that were full of an intriguing depth, lead singer Adam Kidd was a charming frontman with a friendly voice as he guided you through each song with some delightfully illuminating lyrics. The keyboard certainly helped to fill out the sound brilliantly, between the five of them there were beautiful soundscapes on offer as they looked completely unfazed by their trip up from Brighton. There was no doubting that these were the headliners, their sound already polished to perfection and the understanding amongst them felt as if they had been performing together since birth. What a truly enjoyable ending to another marvellous evening courtesy of the Indigo Sessions.
https://soundcloud.com/fragilecreatures/sets/fragile-creatures-fragile
We Close Tonight 