FIFTY3FRIDAYS: BEYOND THE FRINGE
- 31 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Moving away from South West London to rural Surrey means that there are not quite as many live music venues within reasonable reach so it was a great pleasure to discover the Haslemere Fringe Festival on our doorstep here. I wrote a bit about this bi-annual event two weeks ago and today’s music selection will begin with acts I saw for the first time at the festival. It is a family-friendly, not-for-profit enterprise led by volunteers, with any monies raised going to support Haslemere Community events. With Reef, Ocean Colour Scene and Ward Thomas headlining successive days, the festival balances well-known names with emerging artists, presenting a broad range of music and also providing a platform for highly promising young local talent taking their early performing steps.
Photos from Haslemere Fringe Festival and of Clamber by Arlo Parker Photos & SISU Marketing
Somehow on a Sunday afternoon when the sun was at its hottest, London indie-pop four-piece Clamber pushed the temperature up a couple more degrees with a tuneful, energetic show. Like me, I am not sure that many in the crowd already knew the band’s material but there was a likeability about Clamber and an immediacy to the songs that elicited a great response. Clamber started life as a five-piece with a foot more in acoustic/folk territory; the current quartet are firmly in indie rock/pop land with a camaraderie that put me in mind of Kodaline or Southend’s The Trusted. The band name originated from a WhatsApp group chat, seeming to mirror the outfit’s efforts to juggle music, work and life and, I’m sure, eventually get there.
Recent single “Headrush” was a standout in the live set. Lyricist and frontman Kieran Daly is a natural commentator, spilling out his first-person words in an overactive flurry over staccato guitar and steady beats. Things take off in the striking choruses where synths and guitar apply some balm, adding warmer textures in this ode to multitasking or, more so, attempts to juggle life and emotions. The song has a real summer vibe to it and embeds itself instantly. Clamber is playing the BBC Introducing Stage at Latitude this weekend where it will be up against Lewis Capaldi but I wouldn’t bet against the band drawing a decent crowd.
Haslemere Fringe Festival equally gives space for young performers who are at the very start of their journey via Debut, a local organisation formed to give new musicians and singers the chance to step on stage and showcase their talent. The Fringe stage located in the cool environs of ‘under the trees’, showcased a number of acts given their chance via Debut. I was particularly impressed by the vocal tone of young jazz/soul singer Natalia Nixon and the amazing 17-year-old singer-guitarist William Laborde who set up some prodigious acoustic loops before switching to electric to add equally impressive solos. Their musical futures are both bright.
Staying cool under said trees too was a more seasoned live performer in emerging indie-folk artist Heather Gorniak who works under a moniker employing a little play on words - Hearthy. The name carries with it suggestions of warmth and homeliness along with her first name. Hearthy is a Haslemere native who now lives in London where she regularly performs, including a recent spot at Discover Live at The Ned. She employs an airy, individual vocal tone and can accompany herself on a raft of instruments: violin, viola, guitar, keys and ukulele. While she cites influences including Billie Marten, Laura Marling and 70s folk-rock, the beauty of hearing her live was that she did not immediately remind me of anyone else.
Hearthy’s music references growing up neurodiverse with the challenges and questions that this raises both in love and self-acceptance. “Come Clean” was inspired by a late diagnosis of ADHD aged 30. “I wanted to explore the theme of 'unmasking' and whether I would be accepted as my full authentic self, without having to cover up the traits that society sees as bad” she explains. Poetically and personally exploring the conflict between the seen and the unseen in a relationship, her use of religious imagery in the chorus underpins the notion of purity and wanting to be made clean. It’s a complex and engaging song which is still in demo form and the vocals will need lifting above the instrumental track to fully ‘come clean.’ But what a jewel awaits.
Moving next to the familiar territory of Fresh On The Net I realised I have two weeks of Alt Picks to catch up on. This feature highlights songs chosen from Fresh On The Net entries that did not make that week’s Listening Post. So, without further ado, here are my two choices from Batch 615.
AMATEUR ORNITHOLOGIST - I See Faces
I always love a quirky band name and when it’s accompanied by a song that starts with the line “A floral carpet is making eyes at me”, I’m completely sold. Pareidolia, I’m told. You know, that sensation when you see a face in the clouds or car headlights become eyes. Musically this is beautifully expansive; a lovely collage of jangle pop, harmony and interwoven textures. Self-described as a ‘weird pop ensemble from North East England”, Amateur Ornithologist has a marvellous album out with the admirable title of The Haunted Life of Architecture.
OMJINE - Precious One
This is a very atmospheric track, set to a pulsing electronic soundscape decorated with delicate electric guitar flourishes and humanised by Omjine’s descending vocal melody lines. Quietly unassuming, bringing a simple charm with it, you’ll find it hard to get it out of your head after a couple of listens.
Now to Batch 616...
SCARLETT KIRWAN - Supersonic Girl
I love the big sound behind this track with its echoes of 60s girl groups in a mash up with Giorgio Moroder and Gary Numan. It does threaten to overwhelm Scarlett’s voice now and again but there is no mistaking the affection in her ode to individuality and girlhood that underpins the song. Girl power lives on, now supercharged by Scarlett Kirwan.
WINTER GARDENS - Fragile Boy
A highly atmospheric piece of music drawing in strands of dream pop, shoegaze and post rock into a shimmering whole. There is a sadness about it that speaks of tenderness and grief while tension is relieved after the midpoint of the song as the instruments rip through before settling down to calm, considered coda. Winter Gardens – a lovely band name too.
Photo of Roswell Road at Petworth Festival by Gill Hardy
We end this week back on a live note but this time from the Petworth Festival, a programme of music, arts and literary events held in a range of venues in and around the beautiful town of Petworth, West Sussex. Yesterday morning (yes, a coffee concert!) the compact auditorium of late 18th century Leconfield Hall hosted the harmonious Americana duo, Roswell Road. Vocally and instrumentally Zoë and Jasmine were on fine form as they played an hour-long set drawing songs from their album, Rebel Joy, plus a brand new song and a couple of well-chosen covers. I’ll leave you with the co-written “Can’t Take My Soul”, their nearest to an ‘angry’ song in which they kick back against commercialism, the pressure on women to spend money to look good and assert the strength and power of real womanhood.
You can sample more of the full album, Rebel Joy, by reading a track-by-track commentary by Zoë and Jazz which we published in March.
