1 week Ago
The Manchester-based artiste is three albums into a burgeoning career and here featured a goodly selection from latest release Constellation which arrived earlier this year. But first things first. Caoilfhionn appeared almost apologetically, sitting behind a keyboard but initially playing acoustic guitar (she alternated, but mostly plumped for keys) with her husband and collaborator Rich Williams seated to her right, noodling on electric guitar.
They both seemed achingly diffident. She was pretty hesitant when communicating to the supportive audience and he seemed to be hiding beneath a donkey jacket and big cap. They gave the impression of being an unlikely act, fragile, unassuming and almost shocked that people had paid to see them.
Imagine the polar opposite to James Brown...
then double it, no, treble it. It later transpired that Caoilfhionn had barely toured in her own right, one album had come out during the pandemic so little promotion was done and other gigs had been mainly in supporting roles. Thus, it looked like performing didn’t come easy.
We were willing her on, encouraging her to come out of her shell. It never really happened, but probably will over time. The first set, which seemed to come as a surprise to them, consisted of stripped back versions of songs from the first two albums Awaken and Truly, some of which they hadn’t played for some time and others were so stripped back that the bones were showing at times.
Part two got the party started (albeit a very quiet party) and featured Caoilfhionn now standing at the keyboard, Rich alternating guitar and bass and the addition of saxophonist Jasmine Myra. Now we had bigger sounds, including plenty of backing tape and experimental noises coming from Rich’s boxes of tricks, as the trio worked through numbers from Constellation, such as Momentary, Into Sky, Simple and the title track itself. It was still somewhat soporific, utterly ethereal and wouldn’t have been out of place in a laid-back jazz club.
Also, as it was slightly underwhelming; something hearing the same tunes with a full band would probably rectify..
