I've seen those Castle Walls before. C Duncan visits Norwich 'again'.

Go Norwich! For a small provincial city we sometimes punch above our weight when it comes to live music. Thanks to some great independent venues (the dreaded O2 venue stranglehold has not yet reached out to Norfolk. In fact, it's all we can do to get a mobile phone signal at all in much of the county), I can proudly say that in the last year I have been able to see 6 out of 12 of last year's Mercury Music Prize nominees play in Norwich.

To be fair, Florence and the Machine and Slaves were at Radio 1's Big Weekend, which doesn't come to Norwich every year, but Slaves did play at our beloved Owl Sanctuary not so long before. Wolf Alice re-visited the UEA, Gaz Coombes graced Open, and the lovely Eska and SOAK gigged at Norwich Arts Centre. And now, to make it seven, Glaswegian bedroom maestro C Duncan brings a live band to NAC in a show originally scheduled for February of this year.

It is a Sunday night, and we are not always good at getting to venues in time to see support acts, but Essex singer-songwriter Kevin Pearce has played here before (he supported Scott  Matthews a couple of years ago), so knows what to expect. He peers into the dark void and thanks us for coming to "tonight's intimate performance". He introduces each number, and laces each one with a dry comment that might have come straight off the page of an Alas Smith and Jones routine. Come to think of it, if you morphed younger versions of Mel Smith and Gryff Rhys Jones into one, the result would look not unlike Kevin Pearce. I actually like his voice (which can alternately sound like Cat Stevens, James Skelly (The Coral), and Wild Beasts' Ben Little), and his material, especially the up-tempo Lucifer the Landlord, and the new single Maria Come Home, really justifies further listens. A cover of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, is jaw-droppingly beautiful. I check the shrapnel in my pocket, though, and decide that another pint takes precedence over buying an album off the tattooed lady on the merch table.

Kevin Pearce

Even though I have heard the album Architect a gazillion times since its launch last summer, I still wasn't quite sure what to expect from a live show. Bedroom opuses from multi-instrumentalists and computer whizzes can occasionally transfer on stage into exercises in controlling tape loops and samples. Either that or, in spite of assembling a talented band, the live sound disappoints when compared with the familiarity of the recorded product. It's almost a no-win situation.

Also, I am slightly caught off guard when the band come on stage, and I initially mistake the shorter and slimmer figure of keyboard player Finn McCardel (who does not look unlike earlier press photos of 'Mr C') as being the main man. In fact, it is the sleeveless jumper-clad guitarist in the middle who welcomes us and launches into Say, the familiar opening track from the album. Not that I am the only one who is confused tonight. Mr C (no, fuck it, let's call him Christopher), Christopher is convinced that he has played Norwich before, supporting Lucy Rose last year. It takes a brave, and confident, Finn to put him right.

I am glad to say that the auditorium has, by now, filled out, and we are treated to an audacious live run through of nine out of the twelve tracks from Architect, each one transcribed beautifully into a score for keyboards, guitar, bass and drums. The vocal harmonies are gorgeous, re-awakening all those review comparisons with Fleet Foxes, and the little string of lights along the front of the stage does almost create a rustic woodland ambiance (if you ignore the giant album cover projected to the rear). Yes, the purists will spot differences between the live show and the recorded versions, but it would be a harsh critic who tried to claim that they were less complete for having a couple of layers peeled away or re-imagined. There is one slight hiccough when a laptop does not synch properly, but it was far less painful than the two jokes proffered by way of a diversion. Otherwise, the entire set is seamless, even if the arrangement of I'll Be Gone By Winter sounded awfully Christmassy for mid-April.

A cover of the Cocteau Twins' Pearly Dewdrops-Drops is sandwiched in by way of a personal tribute, and two new tracks, Do I Hear? and I Lost are also found room for. Old B-side Castle Walls is offered by way of a closing encore. Something by way of a landmark for C Duncan and Co to look out for as a reminder on their next visit to Norwich?

http://www.kevinpearcemusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kevinpearcemelodies/?fref=ts

http://c-duncan.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/mrchrisduncan/

(This review also appears on Outline Magazine's website at: http://www.outlineonline.co.uk/music/live-reviews/c-duncan-norwich-arts-centre )

...and Our First 2015 Mercury Music Prize Nominee is SOAK.

Bridie Monds-Watson, from Derry in Northern Ireland, is still only 19 years old, but has been playing and singing since she was thirteen. Whilst her school friends were studying for GCSE's she was already gigging. By the time were taking A-levels and preparing for university it began to finally appear that, as SOAK., she was going to be recognised for her songwriting and set on a path for stardom. Her song 'B A NoBody' epitomised the frustration she must have felt during those early days, seemingly left behind as everyone else moved on.

Now it is all taking off. After appearing at two Radio 1 Big Weekends (including this year's here in Norwich), slots at Glastonbury, a European tour, and now her debut album, 'Before We Forgot How to Dream' being nominated for the 2015 Mercury Music Prize, SOAK. is appearing at Norwich Arts Centre, 'NME Best Small Music Venue'. After admitting that the Big Weekend gig was truly terrifying, she seems genuinely comforted to be back playing to 290 people.

Up until now, it has been SOAK. the solo singer and guitarist that has always performed live. Now, accompanied by drummer and bass/keyboards it is SOAK. the band, and in some ways now able to reproduce more closely the recorded versions of the songs off the album. However, for the first two numbers, including the opener 'Shuvels', it is Bridie and her guitar alone on stage. Only once we reach the first single 'Blud' does the band appear, and subsequently flesh out the sound.

Bridie herself is still fairly introverted and modest on stage, probably the exact opposite of the lively teenager that we hear about from the skateparks of Derry, but when asked how she is, admits to being '50:50'. It appears that whilst she was aping about on the tour bus earlier in the day, she ripped open her ear lobe during a fall (her trademark tunnel plug is masked by surgical tape). Not quite the sensible adult yet, then.

There are a couple of new songs, but the majority are off the album, finishing with a climactic version of 'Oh Brother' with screeching guitar and pounding drums. The encore is introduced as 'I Can't Make You Love Me', but is not credited to its composer Bonnie Rait. Similarly, I don't remember the band or the support act getting a credit either. Most probably a memory lapse rather than overt teenage pre-occupation.

Support comes from the lovely Rozi Plain, who I last saw performing at the Arts Centre alongside Kate Stables as part of 'This Is The Kit'. Tonight she is accompanied on banjo by Rachel Dadd, and the interplay of voices and mix of acoustic banjo with electric guitar is mesmerising. Rozi's voice has a slightly kooky but distinctly folky flavour - those old enough to remember Noosha Fox from the seventies might know what I mean. Having just flown in from a gig in Berlin the night before, and catching a train immediately after tonight's performance back to London for tomorrow's show at Union Chapel, Islington this visit may be brief, but gets a huge reaction. Highlights include 'Actually' (off the new album 'Friend') and the recent single 'Jogalong'.

Rozi Plain

Just a quick comment about the sound tonight. The mixing for Rozi's set (handled by Norwich Arts Centre's resident tech team) was absolutely spot on. However, several people leaving the show after SOAK.'s set were complaining about the volume, and the distortion of the vocals, during certain sections. I appreciate that SOAK. may have preferred to have her own team handling her sound, including the array of wireless mics feeding into their own mixing desk, but the volume levels were way off even from the first few strummed bars on acoustic guitar. Perhaps it was unfamiliarity with the intimacy of a small venue, or perhaps it is still early days performing live as a three-piece, but it was just a marring small criticism of an otherwise memorable evening.

SOAK.'s debut album (nominated for this year's Mercury Music Prize) is available from HMV, Amazon, and all good independent record stores, including Soundclash. Her website is at http://www.soakmusic.co.uk/

Rozi Plain has her website at http://roziplain.co.uk/, from where you can buy any, or all, of her three albums.