It’s a special night for Fiat Lux are making their first live appearance since 1984. I, and the small audience in the beautiful and intimate St Clements are full of anticipation. We’re being cool about it, it wouldn’t be done to show it, but you can feel it in the air.

But before Fiat Lux take the stage, we have a support artist. Sabrina Piggott is someone I’ve heard of, I’ve heard good things, really good things, about but up until that night I’d’d never seen her. I’ve been missing out on something really good.

Sabrina sings accompanied by delicately plucked guitar and atmospheric double bass from her companion on stage. She sings in a beautiful slightly folk-ish sort of way but her songs although slightly folk-ish at times are anything but folk songs. These are songs that demand your attention – musically, vocally and lyrically. They are all mood and atmosphere. And yes, they have a Celtic feel to them. Her songs feel intensely personal and intimate. She lets her songs do the talking.

And sometimes that guitar and double bass are augmented by backing tracks, but these are carefully constructed and add to the atmosphere and mood. And sometimes the songs build to something more powerful. I felt those builds somewhere deep inside me.

I, and the rest of the audience, sat (or stood in my case) mesmerised and captivated by her performance, concentrating on it. She demands that.

Sabrina is someone I want to see again. I want to hear those songs, those crafted songs. To immerse myself in her music, and take in those words. If you are somebody who likes a really great singer/songwriter, who likes songs with words that are important, and music is simply beautiful, Sabrina Piggott is someone who should (or must) be on your ‘must see’ list.

The atmosphere is building, that anticipation becomes more palpable. And then the lights go out, the ‘stage’ lighting comes on, and we hear the sound of an acoustic guitar. And then David Crickmore walks to the front playing that acoustic. He is joined by ‎Steve Wright on vocals. And all is good, Fiat Lux are back.

Before I go on, I’m going to set the scene, my personal scene. Before I knew I could attend this gig I had what I I might call only a broad recollection of Fiat Lux’s music. I really liked them back in the 80s but some of that period isn’t what we might call a ‘good stage’ in my life, and to certain extent I’ve rather fogotten at least some of that time. And there’s been a lot of years, and obviously a lot of music since then. Having had my attendance at the gig confirmed, I did as much research as possible, I listened to as much Fiat Lux music as possible just to try and bring it back to me.

And again, before I go on, I need to decide how I’m going to review this. Many of the people who read this won’t have heard of Fiat Lux before. They won’t have that history. For those people I need to convince them that the present day Fiat Lux is a band worth seeing (the band have some upcoming gigs booked, and I hope more to come after those). For those people who were fans ‘back in the day’ I guess all I need to do is to reassure you that the band are great musically and vocally. That this is band who are not just getting back to live work relying on their past to get them through. Right here, right now, I can offer that reassurance, Fiat Lux are on it, I mean really on it.

Listening back to their music, and very definitely confirmed on the night, is the description of the band as synth pop is somewhat misleading. Yes, there is synth but there is guitar – both acoustic and electric – and there is sax and clarinet. There are some truly extraordinary guitar sounds going on. Their music has a lot more depth than the term ‘synth pop’ might suggest. It’s much more of what I might describe as ‘classic pop’ – carefully crafted, layered, and in the case of Fiat Lux, moody.

Their set includes material from the 80s right up to the present. And yes, there is the odd lighter more synth poppy song but the rest has more depth. I might almost describe it as progressive synth based pop – this is a phrase that flitted through my head at some point, I think about halfway through, during their set. Whether the band would be happy with that I don’t know, probably not on reflection.

Steve is vocally fantastic, and David is all over his guitars, bass, and keyboard, adding vocals. And those times when Steve and David both sang were great. I’m going to take this opportunity to mention sax and clarinet player Will Howard who covered the parts of the late Ian Nelson who was the original third member of the band. His playing was amazing. And yes, there was the odd false start, but you can forgive the band for that.

I couldn’t help it, but it was that sort of special night, and I just let the performance and the music take me. And yes, there was a degree of nostalgia but at some points I found myself listening to them as I might listen to a new band. I forgot that some of this material dates back to my youth, and listened to it as I might listen to a band new to me. And yes, their material doesn’t sound dated, it isn’t just for people who remember it from ‘back in the day’. It’s great great classic pop, classic pop with depth, performed incredibly well.

Towards the end of their set, they played a song (one they’d never performed live before, if I remember that right) that had the most extraordinary guitar sounds, that was almost Gothy in sound, that had something of Bauhaus in there. It was startling and jaw-droppingly good.

The present day Fiat Lux could show some younger bands a thing or two. This was an outstanding performance from a band who haven’t played live since 1984. A band who really put some effort into the performance. A band who play songs written ‘way back when’ but it doesn’t sound dated in the slightest. So I’m going to urge you to go see them if you can, even if you have not the slightest idea who Fiat Lux are.
Stunning simply stunning, is the only way I can sum this gig up.

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography

Four bands and artists, one I love and three I’ve never seen before, let alone heard anything by them – I love hearing new bands and artists. So it’s yet another yummy line-up from 360 Club.

This gig is not a headliner and supports thing, all the bands are kinda equally billed. The order I’ve put them in in the title just reflects the order they came in (in reverse order).

So first up are a band I’d not even heard of before – Shades. And why hadn’t I seen them before, this band are great, right here, right now I’m going to urge you to see this band live as soon as you can.

It’s a kind of jazz-funky thing, a jazz-funky thing with hints of pop and hints of rock. And as their first song goes on, suddenly there is something that is what I’d basically call jazz-rock, there is some – if you’ll forgive the expression – hot hot lead guitar. Boy can that guy play.

Yet this is a band who can the sweetest sweetest music as their second song shows, it’s delicate and has a tune to die for. And for that matter their third shows that again, it has a kind of late night soul feel to it – nice. Prone, as Shades are, to breaking into fits of jazz-rockiness, this works, it’s not at all abrupt, it’s seamless. there is a progressive build in their songs.

Doing that ‘objective music reviewer thing’ this is a band who know their chops, they can really play. The vocals are great. Although sometimes, and this isn’t the band’s fault, I found them a little bit too far back in the mix. This may of course just be me. I really wanted to hear those vocals because they were fantastic.

They ended – at least I think I remember this being their last song – with something jaw-droppingly good. It’s a kinda soulful alt-rock thing, it does that quiet/loud thing. It postively burns people.

As I said at the top, go see this band, you won’t be disappointed.

I had been stupidly excited about seeing Everyday People (and as I write this I still feel that excitement), for this is the first time I’ve ever seen them play as a full band. And yes, I know I’m a huge fan of the band, and you’d have expected me to have seen them before they lost two members, but for reasons I can’t explain I’ve never managed to see the full band experience before.

They caught me unawares, completely bloody off-balance, by opening their set with ‘Princess Blues’. You’re probably bored of me saying this but this is one of my favourite all time songs. The full band live performance is richer than the stripped back live performances I’ve heard before but it’s completely fabulous. Maeve’s vocals are as sweet as ever. And yes, a tear did spring to my eyes, this song does that to me.

‘It’s Complicated’ follows, and I am dancing as I take photographs, it’s hard to resist some sort of moves to this. And with the full band it demands that. I do the ‘bad music reviewer thing’ and just let their music take me, I fail to take notes. But Everyday People do that. Their music is just so good, so compelling. And Maeve’s voice is just a joy.

I come briefly to my senses right at the end of the set for their current release ‘Small Islands’. By this time I am so focussed on the band and their music that I feel I’m alone in that room. While the music takes me somewhere idyllic and safe. I love this song, and live, it’s better, it comes across with more emotion.

I’m going to be accused of gushing, but I’m a fan (and this is allowed, it’s one of those unwritten music reviewers’ rules, we’re allowed to be fans, OK?). But Everyday People have shone out ever since they asked me to review the first single from them I reviewed. Their songs are really well put together and boy can they play. The live experience is one I can recommend you get for yourself. I can’t wait for my next fix.

Before I go on I should perhaps warn you that I’m somewhat on the fence about the next two acts. It’s not that I didn’t like them at all, indeed if anything I’m leaning heavily towards really liking what they do. It’s just that neither of them do what I might refer to as ‘the usual sort of thing I like’. This happens to us all I think, we hear a new artist or band and think ‘Hmmm, I like some of it, perhaps most of it, but I really need to see them again to really get them’. That’s how I feel about Link Lewis and ADMT. Although I liked Link Lewis more, I had more of a connection with his music. I’m therefore going to try to be as objective as possible. That said, let’s get to it.

Link Lewis is a man with a keyboard, a laptop, and somewhat bizarrely a saxophone. Why I found a saxophone bizarre I have no idea, perhaps I just wasn’t expecting to see one. What he also has is a voice, a special kind of voice.

I didn’t get that voice thing until his first song, and then I got it big time. That first song has soul and sounds organic. It doesn’t sound like a man playing keyboards over a backing track. And with that voice that makes it. For his second song he employs THAT sax, and this is a great thing. He really can play it.

I liked most of his set, I really liked the sound. It’s a kinda late-night soul vibe, and it’s smooth, so smooth. But the problem was that some things just didn’t do it for me. It isn’t that objectively I didn’t understand that his songs are really well written, sung and played, it’s just that I didn’t quite connect emotionally. Some of this may be that I was distracted by taking photos as well as trying to put my somewhat chaotic thoughts about the music into some sort of sensible order. It’s hard connecting with a new artist playing a sort of music that you don’t usually go for, when you’re trying to review them.

I hope I’ve made it clear that I know what he does is great. In fact since that Friday I’ve suggested to friends I know who really like the sort of thing he does, as something they should go and see. It’s that, for me, I need to see him again, preferably undistracted by taking photos and notes, to really get into it.

So ADMT is completely new to me, I’d never even heard of him before tonight’s gig. Unlike most of the crowd who were really into him. The first problem I have is that I have not the slightest idea quite how to describe what he does. The closest I can come is to say his songs are kinda RnB-ish vocals over a really sparse synth and guitar backing. I may be completely wrong but what he does is something I really don’t usually go for.

So let’s put up-front the things I really liked about ADMT. Firstly his voice, his voice is brilliant. And secondly the arrangements, I really liked the way that sparse backing let his voice shine through.

One of the set highlights for me was Link Lewis joining them to play a song ADMT had written with him. Lovely stuff.

However, it’s here that my second problem raises its head. ADMT does a form of music I just don’t understand. Somehow that voice connected emotionally on some sort of level but I don’t have that understanding of the way those songs are put together. I really needed just to stand and watch and listen, and let it wash over me. When I did that I started to get into it.

Standing back ‘objectively’ I got that what he does is great, I know that. It’s just that on a subjective personal level I need to see him again to really get what he does. I have a feeling that if I do that I’m going to end up loving what he does.

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography – see more photos from the night on his Facebook Page

I’ve been impressed, hugely impressed, by recent releases from LELO, but this, this is something else.

It starts simply – guitar, then guitar, voice and drums – but that’s deceptive. For this track changes it’s one moment of oh so dreamy pop, the next it dips into dark classic synth pop. It shifts tempo. It throws unexpected sounds at you – cello like sounds at one point and strange trumpet sounds at another. It’s all jagged and broken musically.

And yes, there are at points layers and layers of sound but somehow it stops short of being overwhelmingly dense. Those sounds are given space. Every sound is there for a reason.

But those sounds and changes convey emotion and atmosphere. Add in those characteristic LELO vocals and words that simply communicate what the song is about so well, and what you have is a song that tugs at your emotions.

So what is the song about? LELO singer Ronan Peaker says, “I think breaking up with a partner is very similar to mourning – there’s this overwhelming sea of emotion that takes over; anger, bitterness, sadness. But there’s also the fear of facing the unknown without this person – your rock by your side. This song is about me wading nervously through that period, determined to come back just as strong as I was.”

It’s somewhere we’ve all been at some stage in our lives, I know I have, and this song – both musically and lyrically – encapsulates the feeling of breaking up with someone so well.

Having re-read what I’ve written so far, it’s all bit too analytical, a bit too ‘music reviewer’ to be honest. This isn’t how I connected with this song at all. My initial connection was purely on an emotional level. I found myself feeling what this song is about somewhere deep inside, it connected with my own personal experience. I actually found parts of it emotionally painful. I guess what I then did was to try and work out why it did this, what was it about ‘I’ll Be Fine’ that did that to me.

This song is beautiful (a word I’ve been accused of over-using, but I mean it every time I describe a song as beautiful, it’s not a word I use lightly). It’s incredibly emotional, and it does that without being overblown, without employing those musical tricks that some songs use to convey emotion. It is, for all those changes and sounds a simple song. A beautiful simple song.

In addition to the digital release the song will also feature on the coloured vinyl 12” LEARN FEAR EP-01 alongside other Leeds and Bradford artists The Magic Eye Pictures, Niall Summerton and E X P E R I M E N T 6 3 7. The EP is released on 22 November and is available for pre-order here: https://learnfear.tmstor.es/cart/product.php?id=55137

LELO will also headline a special LEARN FEAR EP-01 launch party at Leeds Brudenell Social Club on Saturday 23rd November. Tickets are available now.