Folk That - Rachael Dadd Wows the Norwich Arts Centre

While to the West of the city Gary Numan is playing to his friends electric, and Woodland Creatures are burrowing their way into the Eaton Park Café, here in Norwich Arts Centre Bristol-based experimental folk musician Rachel Dadd is heading up a bill that includes no less than five artists. Five for a fiver, indeed. Folk That.

The evening opens in the main auditorium with the soft and soulful sound of Mari Joyce and her band, previewing tracks from an upcoming album and playing songs from her debut release 'The Tent'. Whilst fiddle player Alex Patterson may be absent, quorum is maintained by the stage debut of baby Leo, fast asleep and strapped to the chest of his mother Johanna, who sings harmonies with the band. Alex Hobbs is present on cello, as is Iestyn Griffith providing percussion on cajon. Mari is one of the most gentle and soothing performers on the Norwich folk scene. No wonder she doubles up as a qualified holistic massage therapist. Virtually the entire audience is seated on the floor, and a sense of peace and tranquility ensures that baby Leo sleeps through the entire set, and we are all transported to a higher plane.

Back into the bar for a refill, and we are treated to a set by the lovely voice of Phoebe Troup, known to us from performances during the summer from the Norwich Evenings out-of-doors series of events in the city centre, as well as an appearance on the BBC Introducing stage at Latitude. 19 years old and raised in Colorado, Phoebe's inspirations clearly come from the beautiful open countryside of the Rocky Mountains, although her sojourn here in Norwich as a student at the UEA will clearly provide further inspiration. She may suffer from a technophobic fear of recording, resulting in a shortage of downloadable material, but she does appear in a number of YouTube videos, including a couple shot on the banks of the lake at our UEA by Vivienne Warland.

In the main auditorium we are treated to the most unusual sound of a Bristolian folk musician, Will Newsome, playing the kora, well known to us here in Norwich through Gambian musician Sefo Kanuteh. In Newsome's hands the instrument takes on an at times almost Celtic character as west country vocals waft over plucked strings of the West African instrument. Will used to skipper the ferries around Bristol harbour, where he met and started playing music with tonight's headliner, Rachael Dadd. They also perform together as 'The Hand'.

Chad Mason is sporting a new bowler hat (yes, I am old enough to remember Acker Bilk) and a Sun Studios t-shirt - a souvenir from his recent trip to Memphis, for his set in the Café Bar, and even though we have all seen him perform in Norwich countless times before, it is still a pleasure to hear him play. One day I will get around to buying one of his CD's. Tonight also sees a first for me at Norwich Arts Centre - we witness a couple of the audience actually seated on the floor of  the bar. I never realised before that Chad Mason's material could be that relaxing or hypnotic.

Having said that, we are all so caught up in his set that Rachel Dadd is on stage and performing before we realise it, so unintentionally miss the first couple of minutes. She is sat at the Art Centre's baby grand piano and performing a song cycle which is accompanied by a film made by her sister Betsy with assistance from Help Musicians UK. This is a beautiful and spellbinding piece - the film is abstract in style, with shots of an elemental nature - wind, water, walls, sky and a piece of batik-design material hanging on a line. As the film progresses, triangles feature prominently in the production, and at each stage point the mood of Rachael's music will change. Her voice reminds at times of operatically-trained Rachel Zeffira (from Cat's Eyes'), yet she possesses an earthy, folky character as well. The piano playing also adopts many mood changes - elements of jazz and ragtime contrasting with moments of Nyman-esque classicism and beauty.

Once the film has finished Rachael continues her set with a series of songs performed with guitar, ukelele and banjo. This is reminiscent of two other Bristol-based artists who have performed at Norwich Arts Centre in recent years - Kate Stables ('This Is The Kit') and Rozi Plain. Coincidentally, the first time I saw Mari Joyce perform was just over a year ago, as support to This Is The Kit, when Rozi Plain performed alongside Kate Stables.

Will Newsome joins Rachael on stage without the kora for a version of their jointly written song from their Bristol ferry days, 'On We Skip', and the evening is almost over. We unfortunately do not get an encore, but the performance has been truly memorable, and hopefully we will be treated to a return visit before too long.

Thanks to Will for organising the whole evening, and here's looking forward to the next 'Folk That' evening on October 8th, featuring another five acts including the headliners Pictish Trail.

www.facebook.com/rachaeldaddmusic
www.rachaeldadd.com

www.facebook.com/Chad-Mason
http://www.chadmason.co.uk/

www.facebook.com/somenewwill
http://somenewwill.blogspot.co.uk/

www.facebook.com/phoebetroupmusic
soundcloud.com/phoebetroup

www.facebook.com/mari.joyce.music
https://soundcloud.com/mari-joyce

She Makes War in the Basement of Open

Downstairs at Open in Norwich was the destination last night for fans of Bristol-based self-proclaimed 'gloom-popper' Laura Kidd, AKA 'She Makes War'. Those lucky enough to have been at Voewood Festival in Holt last Summer may have seen her supporting Midge Ure, or if you were at the UEA in November for The Levellers, you would have seen her then. I was on volunteer merchandise duty at Voewood, where her CD's outsold Midge Ure's by five to one - a new name to some of the literary audience present, but she certainly made an impression. Her third album is currently being mixed by Dan Austin prior to release, and has been funded by her fans largely through Pledge Music. Some of those fans were here tonight.

The club bar at Open is a comfortable, more intimate space than the imposing former banking hall upstairs, and has a well-equipped stage area bathed in alternating waves of red, blue and green lights. Having missed the eclipse in Norwich earlier in the week due to cloud cover, and not being far enough North to enjoy the Aurora Borealis, this seems like the next best place to be.

Chad Mason

First on stage with his guitar, harmonica and 'school chair' was local singer songwriter Chad Mason. Having missed out on chances to see him at Norwich Sound and Vision last year, and more recently at Dirty Stop Outs at The Murderers, it was a bonus to finally get to witness him 'open at Open'. As well as a repertoire of contemporary songs to deliver (think of a modern day Ralph McTell), Chad has a distinctive way of interacting with his audience - part Ross Noble, part Rik Mayall, his self-deprecation is matched only by his quick repartee. It is not surprising to find his album is entitled 'The Meandering Mind of Chad Mason', and that his new single is 'Procrastination Day'.

Yakobo

To be totally honest, I could not get into the next support quite as easily. Hailing from Derby, and performing under the moniker of 'Yakobo', James Currey is obviously a talented musician. Checking out his website reveals that he has composed the soundtrack to the recent X-Box One game 'Pneuma - Breath of Life', very different from his indie-folk songs performed tonight. I just found the urgency of some of his guitar playing, and the plaintiveness of the vocals not to my palette.

Laura Kidd (AKA 'She Makes War')

So, as the lights turn to green to welcome Laura Kidd on stage, we start a journey through her world of troubled relationships, family interaction, and observations on technology and life. Her endearing honesty in recalling past events is sometimes tempered with a considered request for us not to share on social media. In between, the songs, a pot pourri of reminders from her first two albums 'Disarm' and 'Little Battles' mixed in with the newer numbers almost ready for release on 'Direction of Travel', remind us of what a musical talent she is.

Performing with only a guitar and ukulele, many of the songs are built through a progression of looping, with vocals sometimes given the same treatment. Whilst not a new technique, few manage it without the cacophonous climax. Laura, though, always manages to construct a web of melody and rhythm, and the vocal build with celestial beauty. On 'Delete', she even attaches a foot tambourine before leaving the stage with megaphone to continue building the song as she wanders amongst the audience.

There is a passion with 'She Makes War' that combats so much of the cynicism we see in today's music scene. Laura connects with her audience, and the relationship is furthered and encouraged through the pledging model. Her interest in us feeds the continued support from ourselves, without the need of an X-Factor or major label to interfere and spoil that relationship.

We are promised a return visit in the Autumn, after the release of 'Direction of Travel'. In the meantime, there is the prospect of a return to the Edinburgh Fringe with a new show, "Shit Girlfriend". Whilst she is quick to point out that she is not a comedienne, and most of her songs are pretty bleak and doom-laden, she is actually very entertaining, and many of her observations are, by nature 'comedie-noir'.

Good luck, Laura, and we will see you in the Autumn.

Chad Mason (watch out, there are two!) has a website HERE

You can find out more about Yakobo HERE

'She Makes War' has a website, and links to make a pledge HERE