Shows

Liz Green, Ben Wetherill, Essie Jain - Oxford Sun 28th September 2008 At the Port Mahon, Oxford



Liz Green (Live):
‘Mid-Term Report No 1 Best New Act’ June 08 Mojo
 “Her delicate songs are a perfect knot of grassroots jazz, muddy blues and homespun folk, and recall the kiss of a needle on a brittle 78… you sense that once the world gets wind of her elegant, spooky songs there will be nowhere for Green to hide.” Observer Music Monthly
“Lilting folk, spiked with venom and stalked by sadness” Sunday Times
“Hauntingly beautiful” The Sun
“Astonishing raw blues” Time Out
“Part Joanna Newsom, part thirties-starlet” Esquire
“Green could quite literally charm the birds off the trees… beautiful.” DJ Magazine
“Beautifully spectral” Fact
“An enthralling other-worldly combination of Billie Holiday and Judy Garland” Flux

Liz Green has come a long way in just one year considering she has only released one single, the acclaimed ‘Bad Medicine’. She has hit everyone’s ‘one to watch’ radars from the Observer Music Monthly to Zane Lowe on Radio One. Added to this, after gracing the Mojo BBQ at this year’s SXSW, Liz impressed so much that the magazine listed her number one in their top ten acts to watch this year and invited her to support Rachel Unthank.

Green’s introduction to music was an education in pop, via her Dad’s mix tapes. Ranging from the Stones and Chuck Berry to Jackson 5 and Elton John, they inspired Green to pick up a guitar, although it took her another seven years to learn four chords! It wasn’t until she discovered finger picking that she began playing ‘properly’ and writing her own songs. The style she has developed also goes some way to explaining her love affair with country and bluegrass. It was well worth the wait.


Ben Wetherill (Live)
Wetherill mixes traditional songs with haunting originals and veers between straight-up gritty folk and ethereal psychedelia. His voice possesses a fragile quality, somehow not of this era but also fresh sounding. Though acoustic folk is hardly a new concept, it is very difficult to think of any particular artist he is imitating. Sandman.
"Bonkers, totally individual..." Artrocker
"A genuinely enchanting performer" Nude Magazine
"Leaves you wondering why all music can't be this good" Tasty Fanzine
"Simply stunning...Spellbinding" Whisperin' & Hollerin'
Signed to New Yorks Badabing label along with Manchester's Red Deer Club. Album just out, recorded with A Hawk and a Hacksaw in Hungary.

Recorded in a disused 19th-century palace on the outskirts of Budapest, Benjamin Wetherill's first album captures the intimacy of a delicate folk idiom along with the innovation of original technique and approach. Wetherill, a Leeds native who has been making his own music for almost a decade, plays intricate fingerpicked guitar passages, and sings with a lilting style unlike anybody recording today.

Jeremy Barnes, A Hawk and a Hacksaw's inventive songwriter, offered to produce his debut album. Barnes enlisted his Hun Hangar Ensemble of Hungarian musicians for the recording, expanding Wetherill's songs to include a feather orchestra of light touches and subtle accents.The effect is startling.

Essie Jain (Live)
 “Gorgeous debut album”  Independent
“Intimately arresting it most certainly is”   4/5, Mojo
“Exquisite… Impressive and affecting”  4/5, Uncut
“Captivating”  The New York Times
“Hushed, piano-led chamber folk that strikes a compelling balance between intimacy and reserve”  Time Out
“Essie Jain could be the Joni Mitchell of the 21st Century”  Venus
“Timeless and contemporary”  Pitchfork
“While the pristine clarity  of Jain’s singing on this impressive debut recalls such folk doyennes as [Shirley] Collins and Sandy Denny, a modern twist to her arrangements marks her out as more than a revivalist… this songstress is special” The Daily Telegraph

Born into a musical London family, Essie Jain relocated to New York City in 2001. Her debut album, We Made This Ourselves, was released on The Leaf Label this spring to widespread acclaim. Recorded mostly in her apartment, the spellbinding album is based around Jain’s piano and understated, intimate vocals, always brimming with emotion. Her appearance on The Local tour will give gig-goers an early chance to hear songs from her new album, The Inbetween, which will follow swiftly in November. The Inbetween is an altogether more expansive work, featuring warmer, more dramatic arrangements around her striking voice.
Essie performed at this summer's Green Man and Summer Sundae festivals, and will round the season off with an appearance on The Local stage at the End of the Road festival in Dorset.