LIVE REVIEW: Carlton Melton and vert:x

6 Oct 2015

Monday night saw Todmorden’s Crazy8 play host to a space-rock extravaganza in the form of Chester veterans vert:x and current ‘golden boys’ of the psych scene, California’s Carlton Melton (See our interview with Carlton Melton).

Let it first be said that besides some early Pink Floyd, a Soft Machine compilation and a couple of long-lost Ozric Tentacles albums, psych isn’t the strongest suit in my record collection. I love loads of artists who touch on psychedelia – none more satisfyingly than Jimi Hendrix – but, to be honest, I’ve always been a bit uneasy about music that is defined as such.

Prepared to have my mind changed (or should that be altered?!), I hurried to the Golden Lion just in time to catch the last couple of vert:x’s tunes – fortunately, as the frontman announced before their finale: “this is a bit of a long one”. Still plenty of time to get a flavour of the band, then.

The business of the room and enthusiasm of the smoke machine operator made it hard to figure out exactly what vert:x’s musical lineup was, but by my reckoning, there were two guitarists centre stage flanked by synth players on either side.

What surprised and disappointed me was their lack of a drummer. That’s not to say there weren’t drum sounds, but these came in the form of sequenced loops from a drum machine or similar, rarely deviating from fixed patterns for ‘fills’ or pauses, and constant in terms of volume and dynamic.

For such an improvisatory band, I can see how ‘following’ an intricately programmed drum part would be a bind for vert:x. I did feel though, that the dynamic rise and fall that is the lifeblood of this style of music, was sometimes lacking due to the absence of a human percussionist.

What I did like about vert:x was the interplay between members; not that I could see it on stage – there was too much smoke for that – but the interweaving guitar lines sounded like musical spaghetti, supported by some excellent synth swells and oscillations that seemed to come from out of nowhere. At one point I was convinced I could hear a siren passing in the street outside, only for the sound to plummet through a wash of reverb and echo, like the Doppler effect might sound on Mars!

If I was to compare vert:x to anything I’ve heard before, it would probably be Hawkwind. Albeit with a modern twist lent by their synths and programmed drums. Whether it’s fair to comment after hearing such a brief fragment of their set I’m not sure, but given a ‘real’ drummer, I’d be much more inclined to seek out more of their music.

And so to the night’s main attraction.

There had initially been an embargo placed on disclosing that Carlton Melton were to divert from their published European dates to play at Crazy8, so naturally my interest was piqued.

Checking Spotify revealed their extensive back catalogue, including 2015’s ‘Out to Sea’, and I’m fairly certain the band performed its opening tunes to start their set tonight.

At first they too opted to forgo acoustic drums, the drummer moonlighting as an accomplished second guitarist as the trio conjured a swirling soundscape, given rhythm by the sparsest of bass drum loops. The first instance of this reminded me of the foreboding ‘thud’, used in medieval dramas as the condemned man is lead to the gallows. The second was equally menacing and could have come from the Terminator 2 soundtrack!

Most of Carlton Melton’s songs built from an underpinning synth drone, with the bassist adding rumbling rhythms to provide a hypnotic backdrop for the lead guitarist’s improvisations. For me, the most successful sections were those driven by the drummer’s heavyweight beats, propelling the songs with a powerful momentum – no matter how luxurious the tempo.

The songs where drums were substituted for a second guitar lacked the same immediacy but were nonetheless rewarding. Carlton Melton evidently have a talent for brooding buildups, the subtly-changing layers leaving you mesmerised before you consciously have the chance to acknowledge it.

Effects like reverb, delay, wah-wah and phase are psych musician’s staples for creating a trippy atmosphere, and so it was with Carlton Melton’s lead guitarist. What was refreshing, however, was his willingness to play with more straightforward sounds too. An effect ceases to ‘be’ an effect if it is used all the time, and going back-to-basics served to show the band’s bare bones, bringing Cream’s creepy ‘Politician’ to mind on one occasion.

Technical troubles robbed Carlton Melton of at least one climactic moment tonight but they handled it with a professionalism that shone throughout their set. It’s easy to see why they are so widely touted in psych circles: a sonic spacecraft that is equally at home, blasting into the stratosphere as it is in serene orbit. From what I could see through the haze, the Crazy8 crowd would agree.

Whether I’ve now been converted to psych remains to be seen, but I certainly found the live experience more engaging than some psych recordings I’ve heard.

Carlton Melton have now embarked on the mainland leg of their European tour but, to keep up with the band and future dates, visit their website: www.carltonmeltonmusic.com

INTERVIEW: Carlton Melton

Louise Karwowski

6 Oct 2015

Carloton Melton: From left: Clint Golden (bass guitar, drums), Rich Millman (synths, guitar) and Andy Duvall (drums, guitar)

Carlton Melton are one of the biggest bands on the psych rock scene at the moment. I caught them for a natter on the Todmorden leg of their whistle-stop tour of their new album ‘Out to Sea’, organised via Was Ist Das? and White Rabbit Promotions. See our gig review

They’re made up of Andy Duvall (drums, guitar), Rich Millman (synths, guitar) and Clint Golden (bass guitar, drums).

The band are known for their powerful use of improvisation and experimentation both in the recording studio and on stage. They frequently responded to my questions with answers that were as synergistic as their musical style.

You can’t help but wonder how a trio of Northern Californian musicians feel about this part of the world. When asked, the band explains that they have a fondness for West Yorkshire “You’d be surprised how much this area reminds us of Northern California. The look of it, the landscape; hills and trees. San Francisco can be a very damp city that’s foggy all the time. And if people are into our music, even just one person is really into it, playing just comes naturally. It’s always a blast playing here,’ they assure me.

I guess it makes sense that this band are drawn to our gloriously atmospheric, albeit drizzly region, as this band is all about spirit – feeling and working with the inspiration of the moment.

Aside from the new album, they normally use their friend’s geodesic dome/home to record in. In fact, they describe their music as ‘Dome Rock’ on their Facebook page. They explained the set-up to me, “We go to visit our friend, he lives in the dome. We have some fun: drink beer, have a BBQ, cook a lot of food…it’s more recreational than anything. We have a good time and hang out with everybody. If music comes out, it comes out. We never plan it. If it didn’t work out, it would still be a great weekend; you have the Pacific Ocean and Giant Redwoods right next to you.”

I’m curious to know more about how playing in a huge Bucky ball affects sound. “When people are talking to you, when people are face to face with you, you can’t hear a word they’re saying but you can hear sounds from around the corner. We mic it up with a surround-sound microphone at the sweet spot and play,” they explain.

The technical aspect of the band’s sound intrigues many listeners, but I want to know how Carlton Melton view themselves. Andy explains: “For me, the music speaks, it says it all. It’s almost telepathic communication between us, good friends making noise. Rich and I have been playing together for 25 years. Clint was the one who suggested we should play actual gigs, in 2009. This our fifth time over here in five years. I love meeting people that are into what we do. It’s a thrill – blows my mind.”

I ask how the scenes vary across borders. Andy replies: “Big cities are big cities, no matter where you are, and small towns are small towns. We’re definitely not everyone’s cup of tea but people who like us seem to really like us! Scenes are pretty similar, although our audience in the UK tends to be older people who are our sort of age – 47, 48ish – like tonight. When I play San Francisco, I feel like a grandpa. I could be someone’s grandpa!” he adds with a chuckle.

What is the feeling the band most associate with their music, I wanted to know. Is it an outpouring of their inner spirits or is it a reflection on the universe, of what’s outside them?

“It’s however you look at it, I guess,” says Rich, explaining that ‘Out To Sea’ broke tradition and was recorded in a studio rather than inside the dome. “We had a photograph that worked with a song title and it just sort of came together… We recorded with Phil Manley in his studio. Whatever trickled out, came out. We’re still working on it. Whatever trickles out is the outer. You plant the bomb when you’re recording and develop it when you play live. We don’t write, rehearse, work on the music and then go into the studio to record. We just roll tape and see what happens. We each bring ideas and then jam and improvise.”

This is a band who is doing things in a different way. “We do the most improvisation when recording – this is when our sound is in its loosest form. We hone it during the tours. It’s completely ass-backwards,” Andy says, and gives me an example. “I remember these guys were recording, I was in the other room, and came running in and picked up the drums. That sound was left on the recording.”

It would be a pretty difficult task, but who would be a dream band member replacement for Carlton Melton if someone happened to acquire a temporary injury?

Andy’s answer is instant: “I want to see Mitch Mitchell play with these guys!” he tells me. Rich contemplates for a moment and answers thoughtfully: “I would have to choose someone who would know all the songs. Dave from White Manna – a really good band – he knows all our songs so he would be a great choice and he’d agree to do it!”

Whilst on their live circuit, Carlton Melton are proud to play alongside support bands from local areas. “We’ve played with a band from Manchester – we are playing with local bands that the locals don’t know,” says Clint. ”We’re introducing bands to our crowd from 10 miles away. Like vert:x, they’re from Chester. We always wanted to play with vert:x, we became friends after swapping CDs with them years ago. We’ve tried to get tours with them ever since so we’re stoked about tonight!”

And with that, the spacey, futuristic sounds of vert:x descend on us and it’s show time. The gig begins.

LIVE REVIEW: Antony and Friends Concerts

Diana Forrest

5 Oct 2015

These informal concerts have begun again at Central Methodist Church, Todmorden

First September Concert

The initial one on 5 September featured Andrew Rostron, violin, and David Leys, cello. The first half was Beethoven’s cello sonata no 3 in A major (op 69). This was a demanding piece in which the cello showed some uncertainty on the high notes.

The second half contained three works: the violin sonata no 3 in G minor by Schubert (D408), the piano trio by Haydn in G major (Hob XV:25) and the Handel Passacaglia in G minor from a keyboard suite. I thought the trio, featuring all three musicians, went down particularly well. A sedate Andante was followed by a serious Poco adagio, finishing with a dazzling Rondo all’Ongarese (presto).

Second September Concert

This concert on the 19th September featured Antony’s brother, Chris Brannick. Chris started out on the piano but was told to become a percussionist when a school production needed one. He seems to have never looked back.

The pieces played ranged from Shostakovich to Sullivan. Scarlatti’s ‘The Cat’s Fugue’ was inspired by a cat walking on the harpsichord. K Blain’s song ‘The Captain’s Whiskers’ acquired extra lines relating to a certain bearded politician.

‘Talk like a pirate day’ was celebrated with a piano duet, ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ (Sullivan) interspersed with piratical repartee. This was followed by Bach’s prelude and fugue in B flat major, its varying moods interpreted on the marimba. In my opinion the cool clarity of this instrument suits Bach’s music.

P Burnell’s ‘The Nightingale March Past’ on the frame drum expressed statistics collated by Florence Nightingale from the Crimean war, coded into drum techniques.

M Cornick’s piano arrangement of ‘Charlie is my Darling’ seemed to require extra forces and three volunteers from the audience joined the brothers, bobbing in to play their bit on the piano when they got a chance.

The concert finished with Saint-Saen’s ‘Swan’ from ‘Carnival of the Animals’, with words by Kit Hesketh Harvey. The song told of all the rubbish thrown into the water and how it trapped the swan.

As usual, there were excellent refreshments and payment by donation. The next concert in the series is on October 17.

Website: http://todmordenchoral.org.uk/pages/antony-and-friends/

LIVE REVIEW: Kid Wave

Michael Karwowski

5 Oct 2015

Kid Wave singer, songwriter and guitarist Lea Emmery’s story is something of a rock ‘n’ roll fairy tale.

Lea moves from Sweden to London as a teenager to develop her music; she has a sad and lonely time in the big city. Lea works in a shop. She begins writing songs. A sound engineering course provides access to a studio. Lea produces some demos. She posts them exclusively to Heavenly Recordings, the London-based indie label which discovered Manic Street Preachers, Doves and St Etienne. They promptly sign her. Voila!

Up to that point, Lea has been going under the name Kid Wave, but she doesn’t actually have a proper band. No problem! Aussie, Serra Petale teaches drums at Lea’s school; she’s happy to play. Guitarist Mattias Bhatt is an old friend from back home in Norrköping in Sweden; he agrees to relocate. Bassist Harry Deacon is hired after a demanding selection process. Kid Wave, a recording contract already in the bag, is a genuine band at last, with the perfect gender balance of two-girls-two-boys; a second Abba (of sorts). Being a rock ‘n’ rock fairly tale, naturally a single and an EP appear, followed by a stunning debut album – ‘Wonderlust ‘- which is recorded at Stockport’s Eve Studios in November last year and released this June.

Now, Gullivers Alternative Music Pub in Manchester’s trendy Northern Quarter is the latest venue in a promotional tour that also included Sheffield’s Tramlines festival. Gullivers is a homely venue for rock music with its tidy upstairs room. The city shouldn’t feel too unfamiliar either, at least for Lea and Mattias, as Norrköping, with its textile industry, is known as ‘Sweden’s Manchester’.

As for ‘Wonderlust’, the album provides a nice blend of rock songs to showcase the band’s highly-professional skills, balanced with heartfelt ballads to highlight Lea’s breathy vocals. On stage the songs’ strong melodies allow the band all the scope they need to express themselves without losing each tune’s clearly-defined individuality in the process; loud they might be, sometimes very loud, but they’re definitely never cacophonous.

Kid Wave start with the blues rock of ‘Baby Tiger’ before going straight into stand-out track ‘Honey’, with its crowd-pleasing chorus of ‘Go honey’. This song encapsulates the daydreaming escapism that is an overriding theme of ‘Wonderlust’. “Some say dreaming is a waste of time,” sings Lea, “I’ve got nothing else in my life.”

But it also highlights what has been termed the song-writer’s abstract expressionist lyrics. I’m not sure about that. I think something might have been lost in translation. Honey, for instance, has the memorable couplet; “Driving down on the 45/and in only seconds time.” This really works as part of the song, but what’s that ‘45’ about? Surely, it can’t be the A45 around Northampton? No disrespect, but the A45 is not Route 66.

Similarly with title track ‘Wonderlust’ (a song all about escaping from a stifling situation) is ‘wanderlust’ actually the word they were looking for? OK so, Sophie Ellis-Bextor released a highly-successful album with the name ‘Wanderlust’ only last year, but the word ‘wonderlust’ is no substitute; if nothing else because it’s something of a contradiction in terms. ‘Wonder’ tends to be a word belonging to the realms of angels, whereas ‘lust’ is usually associated with something more down below…

Fortunately, music itself is a universal language that appeals straight to the emotions. And if Lea’s command of English might occasionally be a little shaky, her musical sense is very strong.

What’s more, while still only in her early 20s, Lea’s not short of hard-earned life-affirming wisdom. Back on the Gullivers stage, ‘Honey’ is followed by ‘Gloom’, which is anything but gloomy. Here, depression is described as merely one side of the light-and-shade of human emotion: “Some days we dance and some days we don’t/Some days we’re broken and some days we’re whole/Some days we shine and some days we don’t.” The song brings to mind Mark Knopfler’s ‘Why Worry’ on Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms album: ”Why worry, there should be laughter after pain/There should be sunshine after rain/These things have always been the same.”

This is followed by ‘Best Friend’ and I’’m Trying to Break Your Heart’, songs that highlight Lea’s lightning-quick change of tone, from sweet to sour. One moment, she’s the smiling girl-next-door, Olivia Newton-John in Grease, before she changes without apology into the leather-clad aloofness of the Velvet Underground’s Nico.

Then we’re into the dreaminess of ‘Sway’ – and we’re being pulled all over the place here, with this song about a young girl moving like a boxer out of the way of life’s brickbats. Then we’re into Lea’s first recorded song, the hard rocking ‘All I Want’, with its apt lyrics: “Then you know I’m kicking off now.” And they were, and we were.

A member of the audience shouts out a request for ‘Walk on Fire’. “How convenient!” Lea replies, as that’s scheduled as the next number. Appropriate, too, in that Lea is on record as calling it “probably the most emotionally powerful song on the album,” an unflinching call to rise above …who knows what, but possibly the pain of heartbreak.

Finally, we’re into the grand finale of title track ‘Wonderlust’, with the band in full flow now and having a great time. Pity it has to end, but Lea tells us that Kid Wave will be back in Manchester as part of another headline tour before Christmas: “Come and celebrate Christmas with us,” she says. With all the tinsel decorating the back of today’s stage, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was already Christmas!

REVIEW: The Orielles – ‘Joey Says We Got It’

Sean Kavanagh

1 Oct 2015

This is a cracking single. It’s a lazy, languid ride of hooky, louche themes that snag you right in and grow with each listen. From the opening riff, reminiscent of Lou Reed’s ‘Sweet Jane’, produced to give that authentic ‘coming down the corridor’ retro sound, it is redolent with atmosphere. This retro groove is appropriate for a track that is being released on cassette to support this year’s Cassette Store Day on 17th October. It sounds like it was made on a hot weekend in New York, but this talented trio, two of whom are sisters, hail from Halifax.

I loved its distinctly lo-fi production, a sound that is hard to pull off effectively without sounding cheap and nasty, but this is typical of The Orielles oeuvre and one of the reasons they have been attracting much attention of late. The rhythm guitar delivery is slack-wristed and soporific in a cool, rock ‘n roll way, giving an underlying vibe of narcotic oblivion over which the rest of the song stands as a sweet and bouncy counterpoint.

A sumptuous and mellifluous female voice takes us through original and well-crafted lyrics, and before we know it we are pleasantly deposited at its end, just before the magic three minute threshold of good pop has passed. The lead guitar drives much of the chorus’s melody and in between gives us squelchy haunting loops of complementary noise and a deft and unpretentious solo that merges with the tune rather than showing off outside of it.

There’s as much skill in the silence on this track, with a sparseness of playing that allows the song’s structure and strength to stand out and not be drowned in overly showy musical parts. But when the song builds to its peaks, a nice splash of noise is slipped in to deliver energy and body-shaking vitality. I like the obscurity of the title and opacity of the story in the song, making me want to know more and listen again, rather than giving it to me on a plate.

Cymbal centric but neat drumming makes a discrete skeleton on which to hang this pop journey and each chorus brings a rousing sing-along feel that is joyous without straying into kitsch. If I locked Lou Reed, Joey Santiago and Sarah Cracknell in a studio all weekend and told them to write me a good number that would sell well, educate and entertain, this is the sort of thing that I’d hope they’d come up with, making me rich as well as cruel and evil to do that to them in the first place.

October sees them playing in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield and I’ll be hoping to check them out live after getting my ears around this one. You can’t beat the sound of youthful energy discovering how to make noise without a rule book in their heads, and that is just what this single is.

https://soundcloud.com/theorielles/joey-says-we-got-it

Live dates

October

18th – Texture (for A Carefully Planned Festival), Manchester
20th – Headrow House (Beacons), Leeds
30th – The Cornershop, Sheffield

November

8th – SWN Festival, Cardiff
14th – The END Festival, London
19th – Bungalows & Bears (w/ Craft Spells), Sheffield

December

12th – Deaf Institute, Manchester

LIVE PICTURE REVIEW: Don Letts

Frank

27 Sep 2015

The Golden Lion was packed for Don Letts – hot sweaty and good times!

Chapter 4 warmed up the crowd.

Meanwhile up in Crazy8 we chilled out to DJ Party Smith

LIVE REVIEW: Songs for Peace – Three Valleys Gospel Choir

Diana Forrest

27 Sep 2015

This was a benefit evening for refugees, performed by Three Valleys Gospel Choir. Early arrivals heard a rehearsal of two new songs, one about “Simple Peace”, the other well-wishing a traveller. After the tea break the choir sang some more. The choir says that it does not audition, but that is not how it sounds. They are divided into four sections and sing complex harmonies. In fact I thought one or two of the songs were over arranged, if anything, but still beautifully sung.

My favourite song sounded African – the first line contained the word “amen” but I can’t remember the rest. It started slowly and impressively and then built up to a clap-along rhythm.

The audience were told about the scope of the refugee problem and about what St Augustine’s Centre, Halifax (which has become the go-to place for the many problems of asylum seekers) is doing for those already here. It was stressed that preparation is needed to settle refugees. St Augustine’s seems set to do a lot of this.

If anyone is interested in joining the choir, they rehearse on Monday evenings at the Central Methodist church at 7.15 pm. Their Facebook page is 3VGC Hangout and their website is http://www.3valleysgospelchoir.org.uk.

REVIEW: Orphan Boy – ‘Money to Money’

Martin Higgins

27 Sep 2015

Self-proclaimed ‘Council pop’ group Orphan Boy are releasing a third single from their critically acclaimed album ‘Coastal Tones’ which came out earlier this year. The new single, ‘Money to Money’ will be available on October 9th via Concrete Recordings.

Recent articles in The Telegraph, Shortlist Magazine and Vice have declared that the band’s hometown of Grimsby is the worst place to live in Britain. Fitting, then, that the band should release as a single ‘Money to Money’ with its unflinchingly bleak description of life on ‘Prospect Road’. Frontman and lyricist Rob Cross describes the song as a response to the sometimes romanticised view of poverty,

“There is no added charm or vitality or sense of community in poverty. It is a place littered with plastic bags and rented rooms, where children wail and young people in the prime of their lives lie under crumpled bed sheets, drained by the pressures of the world, watching the clock tick while the unopened bills and red letters pile high beneath the letterbox. There’s a lot of this kind of thing going on in Grimsby.”

The song manages to strike what can often be a tricky balance between melancholic reflection and a defiant energy. Opening with languid, woozy guitars and a low, mournful sax, the pace soon picks up thanks to the driving rhythm of Paul Smith on bass and Chris Day on the drums. Cross’s impassioned voice sings of ‘Young bodies frail folded crumpled under rags’ before the stirring chorus kicks in and takes the energy up a notch. It wouldn’t have been this reviewer’s choice of single (‘Transpennine’ and ‘On a Nelson Skyline’ are stronger tracks in my opinion) but it’s still a great sampler of the sounds and atmosphere to be found on ‘Coastal Tones’.

The band have announced a UK tour to accompany the single release, so you can witness the gloriously chaotic scenes captured in the video above for yourself at the following dates:

October

3rd – Derby, The Victoria Inn
23rd – York, The Spread Eagle
27th – Hull, The Sesh @ Polar Bear
29th – London, Sebright Arms

November

13th – Scunthorpe, The Light
15th – Stockton-on-Tees, Ku
19th- Lincoln, Engine Shed

Website: www.orphan-boy.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/orphanboyuk
Twitter: www.twitter.com/orphanboyuk

LIVE PICTURE REVIEW: Destroy All Rational Thought Season

Frank

27 Sep 2015

Rob Chapman

Local author Rob spoke about his new book Psychedelia and Other Colours, published by Faber and Faber on 2nd September 2015. You can read our interview with Rob

Kescho

There were strange props to look at …..

… Before Kescho played

LIVE REVIEW: Queen Mashie

Henrietta Bond

26 Sep 2015

With all the recent hubbub about our monarch being on the throne longer than any of her ancestors, it was refreshing to come across somebody truly majestic who wasn’t afraid of speaking from her heart, had no body guards when she did her audience ‘walkabouts’, and had all her subjects up and dancing.

To be honest I was expecting a liberally proportioned older woman – which shows that my ignorance about African singers is on the same level as my knowledge of African musical instruments. Queen Mashie however is as a tall slender, beautiful young woman with the poise of a monarch and the dress sense of a supermodel. When she isn’t happy, she stops the music, asks for an adjustment – and she gets exactly what she wants. Because the people around her completely respect and trust her passion for her art. She is no prima donna pop star, wanting to get her own way, but a dedicated and generous performer determined to give her audience the quality she knows she is capable of.

Queen Mashie is gracious in explaining the instruments used on stage and translating the words of many of her songs. She introduced the Mbira – a ‘thumb piano’ of metal tines within a circular framework – the national instrument of Zimbabwe, which she plays to accompany many of her songs. But also on stage – and played by her support musicians -was a more traditional version of this in a gourd shell – which she described as ‘like a Zimbabwian harp’. There was also a kora – a West African harp-like instrument – a traditional drum kit, and a tamborine and a large pair of shakers.

On the night I saw Queen Mashie at Crazy8 in Todmorden, she has three musicians on stage with her – all colleagues based in England, who she’d invited along to perform with her. There was Sens Sanga, Suntou Susso and Mbada Bjorn. I rather lost track of who played what as they frequently swapped instruments, but I was told by Queen Mashie’s promoter that Suntou was one of the top 10 kora players in the UK. Oh yes – and there was the guy from the audience who came forward when Queen Mashie asked if anyone wanted to play a shaker. Except he was clearly and experienced drummer and stayed on stage for quite some time, very much in synch with the other players. It was that kind of performance – lots of audience involvement, people getting up to dance, musicians coming off the stage to join in with them – but with a sense that Queen Mashie was always 100% per cent in control.

Ok – enough of the structure and on to the music. Queen Mashie sings in Swahili, Shona, Ndebele and English – sometimes a mixture of languages within one song.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but what really struck me was the poignancy and power of many of Queen Mashie’s songs. The clarity of her voice hits you deep beneath the ribs. Whether she’s singing about love (‘If you say you need me, give me some love?’), about a street child in the beautiful track ‘Abandoned Soul’, or delivering her own version of a traditional song about how the people of Zimbabwe ‘came through fighting’. it’s all compelling stuff. Her songs cover a spectrum from gentle, lilting melodies to drum-furious hip-shaking foot-tapping hand-clapping ballads to songs of timeless suffering and survival. And as for that wonderful reverberating noise Queen Mashie makes with her tongue – that sound that is as primeval as it is sophisticated. I just wish I had the words to describe it properly, because she does it so gloriously.

The audience loved this performance. A number of audience members were on their feet from the first track and many others were clapping and foot-tapping along. And when Queen Mashie insisted we all got up to dance and sing along, during one of the later tracks, nobody disobeyed her regal orders.

To be honest I was a bit anxious about meeting this regal woman after the gig. But she was an absolute delight to talk to. Very warm and friendly and generous – and not half as formidable as she appears on stage, she comes across as genuinely caring and interested in other people. She tells me she enjoys writing and singing about ‘people and their daily living, I sing a lot about culture. And I love the concept of unity. We are all one,’ she tells me with great sincerity.

Born in Zimbabwe as Tatenda Sandra Mashiringo, this highly intelligent woman explained that she never set out to be a musician. Although she’d been singing since she was four, she did a degree and diploma in computer studies and was headed for a future in IT. ‘But my brother Andy Brown, who’s in the music industry, opened my eyes to a different future,’ Queen Mashie says. ‘He said to me, you can sing, so are you going to sit here in Zimbabwe where there are no jobs. So he took me on tour with him.’

From this start as a backing singer in 2002, Queen Mashie became a lead singer in her own band, and she has been on a world tour of her own, ever since. Recording several albums and collaborating with a variety of successful musicians from around the globe, she moved from Zimbabwe to Kenya, and then eventually to France where she is currently based. She has toured in the States, in Norway and many parts of Africa and even performed at the Miss Zimbabwe UK competition in Leicester. She frequently performs in Geneva . Her trip to England this year included a performance in Manchester – before she came to Todmorden. ‘I really like this town,’ she tells me, enthusiastically, ‘the atmosphere and the music scene here remind me so much of Zanzibar.’ (I have a feeling her visit coincided with one of our dryer weeks.)

It may be some time before Queen Mashie comes back to our part of the world, but if she does, then try and catch her. You won’t regret it. In the meantime take a listen to her latest album on her website.

Queen Mashie’s website: http://www.queenmashie.com/index.html

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