NEW NOISE! FEAT. KITTY PERRIN, PEARLL, TAF ROYALE & MAD HATCH
Another corking night of (mostly) new talent courtesy of the good people of NEW NOISE!
It is down to Voodoo Daddy’s once again for NEW NOISE! which, without wishing to repeat what I said in my review of the last NEW NOISE! show I went to, is a platform for developing and promoting talent in Norfolk and Suffolk in the 14-25 age range. As always, it is great value - 4 acts for £5.58 - and there is a diverse range of styles on display.
MAD HATCH open proceedings with some power-pop meets pub-rock. To these old ears, there’s a bit of Big Star and Dr Frelgood about them but I suspect the likes of Arctic Monkeys are a bigger influence. Whatever, they’ve got some decent songs, can play and put on a bit of a show. A bit more fire and attitude wouldn’t go amiss but Mad Hutch show promise and I look forward to seeing how they develop.
Now, rap, hip-hop and nu-soul aren’t really my usual thing so TAF ROYALE takes me outta my comfort zone. He has good flow and the musical backing is interesting. Taf is confident, entertaining and comes across as hugely likeable. The songs from his reimagined Radiohead project don’t sound anything like Radiohead - I’ll let you decide if that is a good or bad thing - with Creep having the most powerful words of the night. In an attempt at constructive criticism the (extended) chats between songs kinda kill the momentum but overall enjoyable stuff. And extra kudos to Taf for hanging around to the end and watching both of the following acts.
Travelling from Brighton but (I am told) with local connections, PEARLL are normally a 4-piece but play as a trio tonight. The sound is dark, grungy, even slightly goth. The powerful vocals
include occasional raps. There’s driving bass, squally rhythm guitar with almost classic rock style soling and pounding drums hinting at early Manics, Compulsion and even a bit of shoegaze. The closing song even throws some Simple Minds and Alarm into the mix, which is no bad thing. Pearll do however have their own sound and, whilst this wasn’t brilliant, it was very enjoyable and I’d very much like to see the full band.
KITTY PERRIN has been around for a good few years but this is the first time I have seen her and her band for a while. And I’ve got to ask why I have left it so long.
Kitty is on vox and acoustic guitar, more than ably backed up drummer Ben, guitarists Davey and Declan, bassist Joe and some keys on a backing track. The sound is predominantly soft, folkish, cinematic dream-pop. At its best, it is timeless, classic but thoroughly contemporary, almost as if Paul Heaton has been writing songs for Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac. And that is a very good thing indeed.
