Review

TITLE: Jesca Hoop (support act)

VENUE: The Brudenell Social Club

BY: Katie Grant

WE went to see a Jesca Hoop gig and came away fans of a little-known band from Wales.

The Brudenell Social Club in Hyde Park, Leeds, is usually a relaxed week night out with good live music and cheap drinks.

So on Thursday we went along to check out American folk singer Jesca Hoop who was supporting Fanfarlo.

We got there early and settled down with our drinks and were pleasantly surprised by support act the Race Horses.

The Welsh band came on stage in a whirl of reverb and played a fresh blend of psychedelic indie pop.

It was fun, up-beat and you could hear influences from all kinds of genres of music from classical to punk and even jazz.

Lead singer Meilyr Jones is a strong front man with a distinctive Welsh lilt and the group kept the attention of the crowd throughout.

Hoop followed, saying she was “cleansing” the audience’s palate in between the Race Horses and Fanfarlo.

But her songs were disappointing and seemed to consist of just a few repetitively plucked notes on the guitar.

The Californian’s singing was like a stream of consciousness as if she was just making up the words as she went along.

There was no strong rhythm, bass or melody and each part of the song sounded disjointed and unrelated.

At best, her music was like spooky, surreal lullabies.

It teetered on the line between eccentric and abstract and just plain weird.

In my opinion it was dull, base music with no form or substance.

A group stood at the front of the crowd sipping on their drinks and swaying along.

But behind them others lulled and started chatting amongst themselves until Fanfarlo took to the stage.