Last Thursday my dear friend C and I ventured into the bitter Leeds evening and found accommodation in the warm bosom of The Brudenell Social Club. The Brudenell could be no more perfect in my mind if it tried. Established in 1913 as a Gentleman's social and recreation club, (thank you Dr Wikipedia) the Brudenell has established itself over the past few years as a fantastic venue to enjoy up and coming bands in Leeds without gaining any of the pretensions and high bar prices that so often go hand in hand with rising fame as a venue. It maintains the best elements of working mens clubs and shuns the less desirable aspects of cool. That said, anywhere with Red Stripe on tap (still hanging on to my youth and drinking cheep larger in dirty clubs...) is all good by me.
Last Thursday saw no exception in the calibre of act offered by the Brudenell. We were treated to not one, but two wonderful post-folk bands. The opening act was the wonderful Sea of Bees, a musical project by Julie Ann Baenziger a Californian self taught singer-songwriter heralded in the last year by the Guardian as a "wondrous talent." Julie with support from a friend and bassist Abbey provided a wonderful set of haunting magical songs about being in love and as Baezinger herself put it "dreaming and floating over a prairie in the sun." Every song came with a beautiful dream like introduction and ethereal vocal. It is possible to liken Baensiger to Emiliana Torrini and Kate Bush, but that would be too simple. Baenzinger's talent is all her own, and wonderfully indescribable. We were lucky enough at the Brudenell to be able to buy copies of the Sea Of Bees album Songs for The Ravens which is due to be released 7th February 2011 and which I can heartily recommend.
Following Sea of Bees were the British folk duo Smoke Fairies.
The band made up of two front women, Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies along with a Viola player, drummer and third guitarist filled the tiny stage at the Brudenell. The music of the Smoke Faeries will not have been missed by anyone with an ear to the ground on the folk scene over the last few years. The name Smoke Fairies is often found in the same sentence as Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale, and yet more often than not the Smoke Fairies offer something quite different. Many of the songs of the new folk scene seem to have lost the storytelling that went with the folk music of the 60s. However Smoke Fairies seem to resurrect that storytelling with style. Their work references not only British folk, but American blues and to some extent there is a country vibe that is unmissable. Although their stage presence was seemingly far more awkward than Baenzinger's Sea of Bees, (they came back on for an encore at great speed professing to fear that people would leave before they came back) there was an endearing quality to their lack of self assurance. Their music is undoubtedly beautiful and the quality of sound they produced was amazing. You really must excuse the quality of this recording, I was stood near the bar (quel surprise?) however this is Gastown:
Their recently released album Through Low Light and Trees is certainly worth a listen and the Smoke Fairies are on tour until 3rd February taking in both Bristol and London.
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