Tricky things Christmas songs, there have been some really great ones and some, speaking frankly, I feel should be removed from my head using bleach or something rather more caustic on the off-chance that some small bit of it will drift into my head if it isn’t removed completely. You, the reader, will obviously have your own personal ‘best loved’ and ‘most hated’ lists.

On the one hand you may be asking yourself why The Harriets have decided to record not just one but two Christmas songs, but on the other it sort of makes complete sense. They strike me as the sort of people who actually enjoy the festive season (unlike myself, unfortunately I’m not a fan, and strangely even as I say that I feel I should be apologising for feeling that way). Luckily the band actually explain how they ended up with two Christmas songs

“Last Christmas, when our songwriting duo Dan and Ben went back to their family houses for the holidays, they composed a Christmas song each, without the knowledge of the other. To celebrate this festive miracle we decided to record both tunes and release them as a double A-side for Christmas 2018”

So on with the review. ‘Anyway, It’s Christmas’ is one of those ‘Christmas songs’ that uses Christmas as a basis for something else completely – ticking one of my boxes for a good Christmas song. What we have is a rather sad tale of winter romance. It actually make me feel somewhat emotional if I’m honest. The thing about this musically is that while it may sound rather jaunty, there is actually this great melancholic feel to the music that really compliments the lyrics. And by the way – as though you needed telling, it’s The Harriets – the lyrics are really great. They certainly have a way with words.

Listening more closely, for some strange reason, although perhaps not so strangely, much of the drum track uses something rather military in feel although slowed down. This is actually rather clever – I’m going to leave you to come up with the reason I might find this clever. I may of course be reading stuff into this that isn’t there at all. I’ll leave you to decide whether I’m trying to be a musical smart-arse or not. Anyway for the rest of the musical arrangement it actually sounds both wonderfully sparse and beautifully layered at the same time, which is really clever. There are layers of acoustic and electric guitar that just inter-twine in this great way.

By, say around the third play through, I realised that this track was seeping slowly but surely into my head and and I didn’t want this thing to leave me forever.

‘A Christmas Box’ is a different thing entirely. It’s a Christmas song about Christmas. And it sounds like a Christmas song, look you know what I mean by that. It has this great rip-roaring chorus that we’ll all be singing, it’s covered in all those sorts of Christmas song instruments. It has layers and layers of vocals. I made the mistake of connecting my laptop to my stereo and turning this way up before I clicked the play button and it filled the whole room, and probably the street, with this uplifting huge sound. Although my cat Maisie (aka The LSF Cat, aka Fat Cat – she’s always been rather on the large size, when the notice saying somebody had a rescue cat for rehoming they thought she was pregnant, not pregnant just fat. I usually call her Pritty Kitten, she’s is very pretty) found it rather scary and left the room faster than I’ve seen her move for quite some time. Still she’s not a huge fan of some of the music I like at all, she usually prefers cheesy Europop. Although she has this weird thing about Rolo Tomassi, should I play something by them she rushes into the room I’m in and sits really really close to the speaker.

Sorry I got a bit sidetracked there.

So back to the song. But listen rather more closely and it’s actually a rather romantic thing. It’s a song about wanting Christmas to be like it used to be. It is, although it might appear to tick all the boxes for a Christmas song I don’t like, a Christmas song about Christmas that I actually like a whole heap. It almost got me feeling festive, quite an achievement there, especially on a damp November Sunday evening in Huddersfield.

Look I was lucky enough to be at the single launch – they only played ‘Anyway, It’s Christmas’ live (‘A Christmas Box’ for obvious reasons they had to play over the PA at the end) and I noted that ‘Anyway, It’s Christmas’ was an instant Christmas classic. Still think that by the way but ‘A Christmas Box’ is equally as fantastic. Should you be choosing your Christmas songs ready for this year look no further, quality stuff.

It’s a special night, it’s the launch of The Harriets’ Christmas single and the first gig from Pablo’s Paintings. For me it’s the first time I’ve seen The Harriets live despite having reviewed a single and the first time seeing any of the support acts, AND it’s my first visit to the 360 Club (something akin to a criminal act for anybody into music and living anywhere near Leeds but there it is it’s my first time).

So first up are Parable who open with a what we might call a slow number with a great tune and great vocals. The second song is a faster more indie thing but it’s cool. The guitar is great. Actually the guitar being great is a bit of a theme, Max Canning on lead throws down some way cool guitar through the whole set.

Before the third song, the bass player is sent off stage and the drummer moves over to playing one of those wooden box things. They explain – thanks guys really useful to reviewers that sort of information – that they started off as more of an acoustically based band. This makes things clearer you can really hear the acoustic roots of their music. What Parable do is really not very fast incredibly emotional songs that might be described as having this air of sadness. The issue with this is that there’s a risk that the vocals get over-wrought but vocalist Connor Ludnow avoids this and it’s all the better for that. The other thing is that with a slower song the words snap into focus more and the words of their songs are really rather good.

Current single ‘Choices’ which is heavier than most of their set but it’s really a rather wonderfully sparse and tumbling tune and has these bits where the song swells. And they end with a song where it builds into something quite heavy with roaring guitar. It’s a really great finish to what I found to be a fantastic set. If you like bands that play great meaningful songs with really great playing check Parable out.

While Multinut Butter might describe themselves as a psychedelic pop band that, as the virtually whole page of notes where I attempt to describe quite what they do, doesn’t really go far enough. So yes there’s a kind of soulful thing both in the keyboards and vocals, that might result in that ‘pop’ label but they really do seem to throw all sorts of things into the mix. So, given that at one point I say in my notes ‘I have no idea, no idea in the slightest, quite how to describe this band’ I guess psychedelic pop is what we may have to stick with. In summary, if you’re at all interested in the rambling nature of my head at times, my notes say ‘sounds kinda soulful jazz-funky’, ‘bloody hell that’s sounding a bit like ‘Elephant Talk’ period King Crimson’ – that’s the guitarist only by the way the rest of the band were playing something different in feel, ‘that’s all a bit proggy’ and finally I do actually say ‘psychedelic pop’ at one point.

Most of this inability to describe them in any sort of coherent way is down to their guitarist who at one points in my notes I describe as a ‘guitar hero’, he even does that tongue out thing. He just seems to do what he feels like while the band play this sort of soul-y, slightly funky, sometimes slightly jazzy songs. I’m sure, or pretty sure, that this isn’t the case, that it isn’t like this at all, and it’s all carefully worked out but it has this improvisation feel to it.

What this rather jumbled set of impressions fails to show is actually quite how good the band are. I say good, actually they’re bloody fantastic. Part of this is that bits of what they do remind me in passing of a certain period of my music collection (and by period I mean the time when I actually purchased or otherwise obtained the music, not the time the music was made). But these reminders are so melded into what they do so it’s really a sound all of their own.

It isn’t, I’m going to admit what we might call easy listening music, yep you can latch onto the poppy thing going on, but to fully appreciate them you need to listen properly to what the guitarist is doing. It’s that that makes what they do so so good. Hugely impressive.

There is a palpable buzz in The Lending Room, for this is Pablo’s Paintings first gig. It’s pretty obvious that a small number of the audience have come down just for this. I’m going to admit that I got somewhat buzzy myself. Not having heard the band Pablo’s Paintings came out of I can’t say whether what the do is anything like that band, so I’m basing this on what I heard. And before I go on, I did ponder on whether I should include the band in my review on the basis of ‘if you can’t say anything good, don’t say it all’. But I decided that anyone who was actually there would wonder why the band didn’t feature in my review.

Off the bat, so to speak, what’s impressive is quite how tight the band were, there’s no way this sounds anything like a first gig. Almost simultaneously I was hugely impressed by the sheer musical ability, this is a band who know how to play OK.

It’s just that – and this is difficult for me I don’t like saying negative things about bands even though it’s my opinion of what I heard and saw – what they play which is all kinds of 60s/70s psych/psychedelic influenced out there kinda rock I’d guess, didn’t quite float my boat. I’ve lived through two periods of that sort of music and while I’m not bored with it, the sheer quantity of stuff like that I have makes me, let’s say, somewhat picky. Just to be clear I’m not old enough to actually experienced the late 60s/early 70s music myself but I’m old enough to have had friends who had older brothers who were old enough and had record collections (if that makes any sense), and then there was The New Paisley Underground in the 80s. I’m not saying I didn’t like them in any way, by the way, it’s just that I didn’t find myself immediately grabbed. I may need to go back and see them again.

I kinda at some points found myself doing what I did the 80s which was to mentally list influences when listening to ‘New Paisley’ bands. But it’s not all bad there were times when I found hints of their own take on stuff which filled me with a sense of joy, and I was continually impressed by the actual playing, It’s just that on the night it wasn’t quite working for me overall.

What’s clear, after chatting with some people, is that my opinion is very much in the minority, perhaps even a minority of one. The rest of the audience really seemed into it. Perhaps it’s just a case of ‘not for me’. Check out their stuff and make up your own mind OK. They really can play extremely well.

And finally The Harriets who, as I’ve already mentioned, were launching their Christmas single but also unleashing their new keyboard player Jess at her first gig with them. Having chatted to the band they were quite excited about having a keyboard player, and not having seen the band play live before, I asked some people what they thought of the keyboards. The general consensus was that they really added something to the band’s sound. I can’t compare but I thought the keyboards sounded way cool.

The thing about The Harriets is that what they do is just hugely infectious and fun, and it makes you grin big time. It’s those tuneful jaunty songs with great words. It’s just blissfully happy. And by the third song ‘Happy In Your Workplace’ (I may have that wrong, sorry if I did), a slower song, I get a bit giddy and carried away. I couldn’t stop moving to the music, I forgot to take notes, I even got a whole load of blurred photos because I couldn’t stop moving. I know, I know, bad reviewer, but sometimes it happens, something is just so good you forget you’re there to be a ‘serious review writer’.

I had to force myself to listen properly to the ‘other slower Christmas song’ – sometimes reviewers do that. And it’s a joy. It sounds like an instance classic Christmas song.

And then they play a track called ‘Television’ which is all sort of New York punky No-Wave, see what they did there? ‘Hanging On’ is really grabby in a kinda weirdly punky but jaunty sort of way that just rips along. The weird thing about this song is that it has this strange edge of Country & Western to it (at least to my sometimes strange ears).

They end with ‘Harry’ which is a bloody riot people. It rips along in it’s – slightly faster than than the recorded version – slightly punky way and it’s a joy. And the first line of that song still makes me laugh out loud. For the record it’s ‘Harry wears a green shirt’.

The Harriets make me smile, they remind me that there’s space, and should be space, for music that makes you happy. But, and crucially, there’s a sense of substance to their music. It’s not just throwaway fun, you can tell they don’t just throw their songs together. My first experience of The Harriets won’t be my last. If you want a night out listening to songs that are joyful, well written and well played and make you smile inanely, go see them.

The Harriets: https://www.facebook.com/TheHarriets/
Pablo’s Paintings: https://www.facebook.com/pablospaintings/
Multinut Butter: https://www.facebook.com/multinutbutter/
Parable: https://www.facebook.com/ParableBand/

All photos in this review © Frank Roper Photography

Unusually I’ll be reviewing two EPs from Sheffield’s Soapbox Marathon, this is because – as some of you who know more about the band than I do know already – this is probably better called a re-release because the EPs have both been available before but are being made available on streaming platforms rather than just the two ways you could access them before.

‘When It Rains​.​.​’

Having chosen this EP just because it had the larger number of tracks and I thought it would be better to get the ‘bigger job’ done first, my first listen through rather threw me into some sort of confusion (coupled with a degree of sadness that I’d never actually heard of this band before). I mean what the fuck, quite what the fuck is going on here? This is completely insane, the band just do what they bloody feel like, the tracks just are way different to each other. I bloody love this.

So musically the tracks go from psych/psychedelic (there is a difference you know) influenced alternative rock to something that at times reminded me of Syd Barrett period Floyd and Syd’s solo material to the most moving sweet ballad. In feel the whole EP rather reminded me of ‘The Family That Plays Together’ period Spirit, not the music as such but the mix of styles, you get me.

So the EP opens with ‘8 Count’ a swirling off-kilter big – no bloody huge – alternative rock thing. It is a joy, from the grinding beat to layers of guitar, the backing vocals are brilliant. It is the most get up and whirl around thing I’ve heard in a long time. And that guitar break, yummy, so yummy you can taste it.

And then it happens, the band give us ‘Big Sad Through the Window’ a slow really quite sad song that musically is all sort of loose, oh so wonderfully loose, Indie slow song. The feel of this song is enough give you a major downer. I love music that does this. It is a wonderful thing

And then it all gets weird, really weird. I can’t really even begin to describe quite what ‘Carpool’ sounds like. It’s all way slow with lyrics drawled over something that sounds like mutant psychedelic jazz. It is quite quite compulsive.

For ‘Fed-Ex Up’ the band employ what sounds like a drum machine from the 80s. It all sounds a bit like a psych’ed up punk pathetique track. It sounds gloriously like some sort of garage jam. The guitar just sort of swirls, the vocals are covered in reverb, This makes it sound awful, it isn’t, it isn’t at all.

‘Martian Inertia’ is another one of those slow, oh so slow, drawly things, This time with acoustic guitar. It sounds wonderfully like they’ve taken one part Syd Barrett, one part Nick Drake, and one part something else entirely and mixed those together into something that is so much their own.

The EP closer ‘Surprise View’ is lovely, it’s a lovely ballad type thing that starts off all semi-acoustic. It sounds super sweet and is a wonder. But it builds people, the guitars get louder – and oh boy is that guitar sweet, it gets louder and rawer still, the guitars start to positively roar, and it fades out in a psychedelic random noise thing. Yummy, double yummy.

Oliver Carney – Drums, Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Ethan Dale-Hughes – Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Owen Claxton – Production, Percussion, Extra Guitar, Backing Vocals

‘.Delayed Again​/​Dim Headlight’

And just when you think you’ve got this band pinned down, when you think you know what to expect. The opening track of this EP throws you into confusion for ‘Delayed Again’ is a droney psychedelic, and I mean really psychedelic, thing with organ of all things. That takes your head and drags it down into the sound until you are deep, so deep you feel suffocated, but you can’t leave, you want to stay.

And then, not exactly unexpectedly, ‘Dim Headlight’ is just the complete opposite. It’s this light guitar strumming song that is quite deliciously moving.

Oliver Carney – Vocals, Drums, Guitar, Bass
Ethan Dale-Hughes – Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Owen Claxton – Production, Mixing, Mastering, Organ, Tambourine

Sometimes it’s hard to sum up quite what a band do and what they sound like, this is so much more the case with Soapbox Marathon. They just don’t have a ‘consistent easily pigeon-holed style’ but that’s a great thing, it’s a fabulous thing. What they do have is something which you can identify as their thing, their take on music, that’s the key here. I love a band that keeps us on your toes, that at times makes you think ‘wait a minute, is this the same band? Have I wondered off into some other band’s streaming page by mistake’

Expect the unexpected, for Soapbox Marathon just play what they want and write what they feel like writing, and it’s fabulous, it’s wonderful

There are nights, and I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, when you go to see the headlining act and the support acts are easily dismissed and don’t really grab you. As a reviewer this is hard, I mean really hard, you have to listen and watch intently to see whether there is anything that let’s you find a way in, so that you can at least find something good to say (well at least this is the case for me, I always try and find something good to say). This wasn’t one of those nights. The support acts – both of whom were new to me – were fantastic, and really easy to somewhat slightly rave about. In fact it felt a bit of treat to see all three acts in such an intimate venue.

And just a quick aside about Wharf Chambers – this was my first visit to this venue (yep I know that’s really bad of me) but it’s a really welcoming place that has a really great feel. If you get a chance to see a band (or two or three) there, go.

Frankly it never ceases to amaze me what a wonderful sound that two voices and one acoustic guitar can make when it’s done right. The Paper Waits do it absolutely right. So yes the first thing that’s going to grab you is Ellie’s vocals but just listen a bit closer and you’ll hear how much of an important part of their sound is Rufus’s vocals and guitar.

They sound, well let’s say, dark, it’s folky sometimes, sometimes slightly jazzy in a smooth way, but it’s dark and melancholic with hints of gothic Americana. To describe it as indie folk (as they do on their Facebook Page) seems to me to be inadequate. It’s music that draws you until you feel like you’re the only person in the room. And in my case I got so drawn in and carried away that I kinda forgot I was supposed to be reviewing the gig, which is actually a great thing, that hardly ever happens.

So all was going well, I mean really well, song followed song and it was all good, really good. The vocals if anything got better, the songs got better. It was just wonderful. And then they announced a cover, OK this is fine, covers can be good, they give you an insight into where the band is coming from. Alarm bells started to ring faintly when they said it was a song by Portishead and ring alarmingly loud when it turned out to be ‘Glory Box’. This song is my favourite ever song (see my column on perfect music) and has been subjected to misjudged cover after misjudged cover (let’s draw a veil, or preferably something much much thicker over the Faith No More cover shall we?). But I tried, I mean tried hard, to hear the song with an open mind. Which I’m glad I did because The Paper Waits bought something new to the song, And in fact in some ways reminded me of the only cover of ‘Glory Box’ I will allow onto my ‘Glory Box’ iTunes playlist, the one by John Martyn. Nice one.

And they end their set with an epic song which I actually forgot to write down the name of (bad reviewer – Ed) which I’m going to assume to was called something like ‘Meet Me By The River’. This comes on like some huge indie folk (slightly) rock number, and Ellie’s voice soars, I mean it really soars until you feel it in your soul. It left me feeling quite emotional. So I’m going to end my review of their set with an instruction, see this act, see this act if you like well written songs performed by people who can really sing and know how voices can be arranged. See this act if you like folk or country/Americana or have a thing about downbeat melancholic music with soul and feeling. I intent to.

So then we have a band, a full on (sometimes) noisy band. Allora are a ‘three piece indie girl band from Leeds’ (or at least this is what their Facebook Page says). At this gig they played with a guest drummer who was actually rather good.

What the term Indie doesn’t really clue you into is that some of their music is dark and vaguely post-punkish, some (of which more later) is even slightly psychedelic alternative rock. But the thing that grabbed me is the vocals. The three of them sing, sometimes it’s two of them, sometimes all three of them, sometimes their vocal lines weave around each other. That’s the thing that makes them stand out. That and the guitar playing, look it’s not flashy ‘look at me’ guitar but it’s hugely effective and just glorious. I was basically entranced, I found it just impossible to take detailed notes, I just couldn’t tear myself away.

I did, because I just couldn’t not, actually post their set scribble down something about two songs that I just found fabulous. The first is a track called ‘Burned’ (this is actually available on their Youtube Channel, so do check it it out) a tumbling almost psychedelic (in a sort of Spirit-ish sort of way) loose thing that rocks out in places but has these bits where it becomes almost funky. But the big thing is where, towards the end of the song, those voices start to weave around each other, it’s all quite hypnotic and epic.

The second is the last track they played called ‘Vain’ (at least I think it’s called that, it could be called ‘Vein’ or even ‘Vane’, but from the words I could hear ‘Vain’ makes more sense). This is vaguely sort of indie but it’s actually all kinda smokily jazzy and smooth. They promised, or at least said, they were going to release this soon. I for one hope that’s very soon. In the meantime if you get the chance go see them, you won’t be disappointed.

And so to Zach. Zach cuts an imposing figure in a cowboy hat he tells us he wore ‘to make himself look cool’, the audience reaction to this was I’d say mixed. Although let’s be honest this was much more than just Zach singing his songs, there is banter, there is audience interaction, it’s a show people.

This is my first time seeing him play and my knowledge of his music is limited to the two singles I reviewed. At this gig Zach was backed by a band (OK so the band was The Harriets on drums and bass), and Zach played electric for much of his set, so I’m assuming that at least some of the songs were slightly ‘rockier’ than the acoustic versions. This was certainly the case with his opening song ‘Blue Skies’ (the first single I reviewed). It works, it works really well, the tune is still as infectious, I liked it more than the single version if I’m honest. So we’re off to a really great start.

As I said my knowledge of Zach’s music is inadequate (woefully inadequate if I’m honest), so what surprised me is that there is a big range of styles – from folk to Americana to country to something slightly sort of punky. But it all hangs together and what makes it hang together is two things Zach’s voice and his words. Zach’s voice is something I find hugely attractive, he’s not a flashy singer, he just sings and sings really well, letting his words do the talking. His words are funny, moving, bitter-sweet, clever in turns, he has this knack for a memorable line.

Songs stand out in this set. His first acoustic song ‘Breathing Space’ is a slow and moving song that he performs with this sense of intimacy. It’s beautiful. My notes say, and honest I hadn’t touched a drop of drink, ‘I feel like I’m alone in this space and Zach is singing just for me’. I think what I was trying to do was to somehow write down quite how intimate this song and his performance of it was.

There is a song about (and I hope I wrote this down right) an Australian guitar player Zach once met that grabbed me. It sounded a little like Redgum (if you’re saying ‘Redgum who the hell are they?’ go read my column) strangely which is I think what made me sit up and listen and boy was I glad I did.

And there is the slightly punky song ‘Casino’ a song I assume is about Zach’s hometown that I found moving in places. The last ‘new to me song’ that really grabbed me was a song about not having much and how that was better than having too much.

He closed with the song that was released that day ‘Olivia Jane’ and it’s a joyous performance that I loved as much, if not more than, the single performance.

Zach is one of those singer/songwriters that I find difficult to explain quite why I like his music as much as I do. On one level he writes really good country/folky/Americana songs but on another level there’s something I actually find quite difficult to put my finger on. Maybe it’s the humour in his songs, may be it’s the way he suddenly hits you with a line, or two or three, that is poignant or bittersweet or even sad. Maybe it’s the simple but effective way he sings, maybe it’s all of those. Whatever it is I like it, I like it a lot. I’d recommend seeing him play highly.

Zach Pygall: https://www.facebook.com/ZachPygallMusic/
Allora: https://www.facebook.com/ALLORAmusic/
The Paper Waits: https://www.facebook.com/thepaperwaits/

All photos on this page © Frank Roper Photography