Shows

Woodpigeon, Babel, Beth Jeans Houghton Tue 23rd September 2008 Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, N1

Woodpigeon (Live)

Like Calgary's answer to Sufjan Stevens and his travelling symphonic circus, prairie collective Woodpigeon have a penchant for long-winded song titles (Home As A Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always And Forever) and jingly, ramshackle chamber-folk concoctions driven by banjo, glockenspiel, a sprawling choir and quivering male vocals. Though there are sonic similarities, the writing on Songbook suggests repressed longing and romantic fantasies rather than Stevens's hyper-detailed short story narratives, but Mark Hamilton's delightfully whimsical metaphors and imagery (a love song about ninjas! Superheroes sacrificing good deeds for love!) work perfectly in tandem with Woodpigeon's shimmery songs. And though the music works well in watercolour shades, when the loose-knit ensemble puts some muscle into rocking out, as on the driving Jonathan Ashworth Rollercoaster, they make a strong case for why Woodpigeon might be the next great Canadian breakout band.

 

Babel (Live)

Babel like "Bay-bull". Not "bar-bell" or "babble".
Born in Bristol in the UK, Babel started out all kind of small, folky & a bit shy but then fell in dirty love with pounding tamborines and volume knobs.
Songs led to concerts, concerts led to the recording two self-financed EPs, 'The Golden Acre EP' & 'The Arc EP'. Both were sold from tables in tiny venues. Some of which reached places far beyond their own postcode.
In 2007, People Tree Records of London, UK released the majority of our two EPs to the world on one reasonably priced compact disc & weighty slab of vinyl. The CDs have long gone but there's still some vinyl around if you look hard enough.

Babel played the main stage at this year's Green Man festival on the Saturday, and totally ripped it up! 

 

Beth Jeans Houghton (Live) 

In the past year 18 year old Newcastle based singer/songwriter Beth Jeans Houghton has garnered a reputation as an antidote to the current?crop of acoustic songstresses. With her alternative blend of experimental folk, Beth has been hailed by the NME as "a Joni Mitchell for the anti-folk generation". With influences ranging from Frank Zappa, Vashti Bunyan, Fourtet and Love, Beth has cultivated a sound that is truly her own. Since her first performance in August 06 Beth has played alongside a diverse collection of artists such as Imogen Heap, The Wombats, Fionn Regan, Jeffrey Lewis, The Mystery Jets, Scott Matthews, Josephine Foster, White Magic, King Creosote, Jana Hunter, Alasdair Roberts, PG Six, Dead Meadow, Phosphorescent, Voice of the Seven Woods, Tom Brosseau, St Vincent, Euros Childs, Diane Cluck, Jack Savoretti and Stephen Fretwell amongst others. At last years Greenman Festival Devendra Banhart invited Beth to play one of her songs during his set on the main stage to an 8000 strong crowd describing her as, 'very lovely, a musical magician'.