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Tag Archive: george wilding
With The Swindon Shuffle still visible in the rear view mirror, and both Fieldview Festival and Festival on The Farm (other alliterative festivals are available) looming large on the horizon, it is probably understandable that it is a bit of a quieter week. Throw in pub refurbishments and a general move on the part of the punter to beer garden drinking rather than suffering the hot weather in a cramped and sweaty gig environment and I’m surprised that there any gigs on at all. And whilst gigs may be small in number, there is a great offering of original and interesting acts to be had amongst the more familiar names. Quality not quantity is definitely the order of the day…or in this case, week.
Tonight you will find Pete Jagger back at The Beehive for a night of politically infused folk originals in a similar style to James Taylor and Ralph McTell, mixed in with standards from the genre such as Paul Simon, John Martyn and even a bit of Elvis Costello if you are lucky.
Stu Rowe has been evolving and adapting his Lighterthief project for years now. A fluid recording project spawning some truly unique music and some rare but memorable live shows, and also a recording studio which has coalesced into a record label. And indeed a record label in the old sense of the meaning, one with a set of house musicians, one that helps write, build and expand the ideas of those artists. And two of those artists were show cased in all their glory at The Arts Centre last night.
I have enjoyed watching George Wilding develop ever since Being Ragdollian dropped into the review pile three years ago and he seems to have since walked the perfect path at the perfect pace from quirky solo guy to the mercurial full band we now see before us. There has always been something vaguely Bowie-esque about his music, not the alien rock star era which made an icon of the man but more reminiscent of those first few albums where he was still threading pop commerciality through a strange fey folkiness, slightly odd, wonderfully other.
Not many musicians deserve elevation to celebrity status. In fact celebrity is a word so devalued by its application to reality TV chancers and inflated pop dross egos that we need a new label for the likes of David Bowie. Maybe Icon is a better fit. 25 of the most influential albums of all time, film and theatre roles and untold creative innovations; he embodied art, androgyny, contradiction, mystery, elegance and eloquence and even his death and final musical statement seem like a work of art.
One of the biggest names to hit town in a while, especially if you have a penchant for the singer-songwriter format, can be found in one of the smallest local venues tonight. At Baila Coffee and Vinyl you will find Nick Harper,(pictured) a festival favourite with a string of fantastic albums under his belt and who is able to do things to his guitar that would have had Segovia weeping into his Rioja. Support comes from Burbank and I would suggest that you buy a ticket on-line rather than take your chances on being able to get in.
When I first started writing this more exclusive gig guide, I pessimistically thought that it would be a quick write up every week. At the time original bands seemed a very small chunk of the available gigs and where as the more inclusive and all encompassing guide that I write for the “paper that shall not be named” runs to a small essay these days, this seemed a breeze to put together.
It’s nice to see another week where Swindon continues to embrace original and often out of town bands, if nothing else it gives me nothing to moan about as the length of this introduction attests to.
Thursday
Flight Brigade, George Wilding Band and TriAmi @ The Victoria
If some of the recent big names have hailed from a slightly earlier time, Flight Brigade (pictured) is a band bang on the moment. Festival favourites, beloved by bloggers and journalists and adored by the more adventurous side of the national radio posse and tonight you get to see why. If the idea of a folk heartbeat wrapped in layers of indie cool, rock drive and pop sensibility and then delivered with energy and style doesn’t get your blood pumping then you may as well give up on music and go back to your Stephanie Meyer novels and your collection of vintage manhole covers as it doesn’t get much better than this.
I’m happy to see that the autumn dance card of bigger, out of town acts is continuing with some pace. Tonight, Songs of Praise bring you the first of four gigs they have scheduled around town, beginning at The Victoria for some highly accessible alt-rock fusion.
Flight Brigade sit in the same place as the likes of Imagine Dragons or early Arcade Fire, blending lush indie soundscapes with radio friendly melody, elements of folk sit at its core but get wrapped in swathes of energy, passion and panache. Also on the bill is George Wilding who continues his journey from nostalgia tinged troubadour to forward thinking textured pop icon and TriAmi, a fantastic folktronic trio who have the ability to say more in the atmospheric spaces within their songs than most bands can with actual chords and words.
This week’s main event from Songs of Praise sees the brilliant Flight Brigade in town. Festival circuit favourites, beloved by blogs and radio and favourably compared to the likes of Arcade Fire and Imagine Dragons, they mix powerful indie-folk dynamics with soaring, rock soundscaping and deliver a show packed with energy and attitude. Add into the mix a set from the brilliant George Wilding and the return of creators of lush folktronic atmospherics TriAmi and we have one hell of a gig for you.
