The Eye Jab with New Vinyls and Beth Jeans Houghton

Head of Steam, Newcastle, April 24th

To say that there was a buzz around this gig at Newcastle’s Head of Steam would be an understatement. Arriving early we went upstairs for a drink to find the room filled with A&R guys up from London. Included in this illustrious crowd was the guy who signed the Kooks to Virgin, a representative from Snow Patrol’s management company and former editor of Drowned In Sound, and people from Atlantic and Warner Music. It was very cool to sit and have a drink with these people as they looked forward to an interesting night ahead.

Beth Jeans Houghton

First up was local singer-songwriter Beth Jeans Houghton. A striking cross between the singing style and general quirkyness of Regina Spektor, and the offbeat song-writing and vocal dynamics of Joni Mitchell, Beth performed a brief set of her own songs accompanied by her electro-acoustic guitar. Although she made a few mistakes she always seemed comfortable singing in front of a crowd, even asking people to come closer at one point, and performed confidently once the technical problems were overcome. Her songs did seem slightly formulaic; arpeggioed guitar and wordy lyrics, but there was definitely some interesting words, and themes that were informed by both life experience (bullying at primary school amongst others) and other, more traditional elements. She has an interesting mix of maturity and innocence which makes for an intriguing performance.

Check out some of her demos on her myspace.

New Vinyls

Formed a few years ago, these guys are leading lights of the buzzing Newcastle music scene. With an average age of about 16, their passion and joy in music making puts many of their elders (and supposedly betters) to shame. Their set was brimming with energy and excitement as the singer/guitarist Calum Lynn and bassist James Martin bounced around the crowded stage. They played a tight set of invigorating indie pop/rock, tinged with melodic basslines, keyboards (played by the lovely Ellen Moran) and intricate guitar work. With songs speaking directly to young people today, but informed by classic influences going all the way back to “1940′s black and white films” they also have the same sort of maturity, unexpected in people so young, that BJH demonstrated. Give these guys another year or so to perfect their show, and lay down some tracks, and they’ll be on the cover of the NME.

To sum them up, after their final song the crowd cried “one more tune” but cheeky lead singer Calum Lynn declined saying, “it’s not our style”!

Check out their unstoppably danceable tunes on their myspace.

The Eye Jab

This was their night and they were lovin’ it. Taking more time to build up their textured music, they were immediately relaxed amongst a crowd of friends. Quite different to the previous two offerings, they demonstrated much more self-assured confidence, frontman Will carrying all the personality that was required, whilst the rest of the band got on with producing intricate and excellent indie rock. Gushing melodies, piano, subtle electronica and drumming that would have made the Doves proud, all gave substantial backing to a great vocal performance which captured the crowd and had them, each time they reached for the next climactic chorus, or stonking middle section, draw the crowd in with them. Even a mandolin that didn’t want to tune failed to put them off their stride and they earned a well deserved encore, which sadly we had to miss.

Check out some songs on their myspace.

Technorati tags: live, music, the-eye-jab, new-vinyls, newcastle, indie, gig

Fields definitely are not a band lacking in ambition. Formed in a shed somewhere in London a mere 18 months ago, they recently released their assured debut album, Everything Last Winter. Their live shows in early 2006, and a single, Song for the Fields, sparked a bidding war that ended in Atlantic eventually coming out as the victors – though amazingly the deal allows the band to continue releasing records on their own Black Lab Records.

Fields, a five piece, are led by Nick Peill, an ex-Primary School teacher who sings and plays guitar, and Þórunn Antonía, an Icelandic keyboardist whose father wrote Iceland’s National Anthem, and who lends her ethereal vocals to many of the tracks on Everything Last Winter. Having honed their skills on the UK gig scene alongside bands such as Wolfmother and Bloc Party they subsequently took to the recording studio, joining producer Michael Beinhorn in Dublin (whose production credits include, amongst others; Mew, Soundgarden and Korn) to produce their dramatic debut.

Blending the epic, sweeping stories of Midlake with the fervoured, almost bombastic, sound of the British Sea Power, this is an album with much to offer, both in terms of immediate delivery and plenty of scope for growth. The opener, Song for the Fields, demonstrates their joyous use of vocal harmonies and their driving style, the music opening up out of hushed beginnings to end in sizzling guitars and crying keyboards. It is powerful and melodic with some delightful guitar phrasing which reminds me a lot of The Open.

Despite the fact that the opening track is almost six minutes in length, they never seem to run out of ideas, and this is echoed throughout the rest of the album. It is a constant delight to the ears, hearing different themes develop, and the interplay between the different instruments. The keyboards add a layer of texture reminiscent of a Stars album, particularly on Skulls and Flesh and More with the lyrics sharing a similar stark poignancy.

It’s not all good news though with middle track The Death a bit too heavy and foreboding to be taken seriously, like a less coherant Hope of the States. The riff is fun though, and a couple of other tracks seem to lack the same thought and passion that has gone into others. However, for a debut this album is solid and assured. I prefer it when they concentrate on the more melodic side of their sound; tracks such as Schoolbooks which perfectly demonstrate the boy-girl vocals and You Brought This On Yourself a more straight forward indie track that embraces shoegazer type guitars and vocals slightly lost in a more murky mix.

Saying that though the production is consistently excellent – not too polished, and managing to capture the talents of this band who are by all accounts thrilling to see live. The closing, Parasite, really is their final trick – an acoustic driven, whistful ballad backed by strings which really does leave you wanting more.

Look out for Fields taking over an indie scene near you soon!

Website | MP3 Downloads

Jenny Reeve has managed to build quite the CV during her travails in the Scottish indie music scene. A vocal performance on a Reindeer Section album track (Fire Bell) led to a position as touring violinist with Arab Strap (in the company of three quarters of Sons & Daughters), and more recently other musical appearances with Scottish heavyweights Idlewild and Mogwai. Besides this she has also written and performed music with her own bands Eva and Reeve, but it seems to be her third attempt, Strike The Colours, which is begininng to find its own feet.

Steeped in melancholy (a common theme for any self-respecting Scottish band), the songs of Strike The Colours are soon to be brought together into a mini-LP (that’s an EP, right?) called The Face That Sunk A Thousand Ships. However, it is Reeve’s voice, ringing with purity that does the sinking here. An acknowledged recluse on stage, her vocals ring out with strength and poignancy across all of her output, and this latest work is no different.

Strangernight is available for download on their myspace and is their strongest offering yet. Richly instrumented, it was recorded as a demo with members of Union of Knives and features sounds more typical of current Scandanavian indie, its guitars shimmering in a blanket of chorus and delay. The vocal performance is just as pronounced as it echos the chiming guitars, carrying power and passion. The later harmonies are beautiful and really help carry the song to its heart-breaking climax as she implores us to get out of here again. It is a wonderful tapestry of music and vocal interplay which creates a scene steeped in atmospherics, almost spine-tingling at times.

I would also recommend the hauntingly beautiful Safety In Numbers which was recorded on an 8 track recorder at her home in 2005 and is available as a download on the band’s website.

The EP will be released on Monday June 18th and the band are currently touring with Malcolm Middleton.

Strangernight | Myspace | Website