Music / Reviews
Review: Cindy Wilson, The Fleece
Discerning music fans braved a freezing Monday night to check out Cindy Wilson at the Fleece and those arriving early caught Beautiful Machina, who played an intriguing set of originals – a melange of influences they cooked up in to something quite fresh. The trio: Graham Sampson, lead vocals / guitar, synth & programming; Grace Bailey-Hinks, vocal, piano & synths and Van Naarden, lead guitar conjured up the ghosts of New Order & Cocteau Twins; raided some rhythms and beats from KMFDM; sprinkled it with some of the pop nous of Gary Numan (before he went industrial) and most pleasingly cranked up some John McGeoch guitar on a couple of numbers.
The band have released their debut LP This Hotel Has Ghosts twice now, the original release having been reworked, re-sequenced and reimagined as The Black Edition and the set drew entirely from both versions. The set was finely judged, Always the Same a languid opener and different tempos and beats provided a nice narrative flow culminating with two “disco tracks”, The Diminished and Shattered Love, both of which cranked up the atmosphere and got people moving.
Sampson took most of the leads, and is a decent singer, however, Bailey-Hinks took the lead on Pocketbooks & Butterflies and her crystal clear (very) English voice really hit home suggesting it would be no bad thing to hear her take more leads. She harmonised well with Sampson and his best moment was the Arabic themed I Can’t Be You, shades of both Foxx and Ure fronted versions of Ultravox. Naarden’s guitar work was seamless throughout, riffs, solos; some beautiful fluidity reminiscent of (whisper it) Dave Gilmour and some delightful cascading runs throughout Pocketbooks & Butterflies along with his best solo. This outfit have got it sussed – decent tunes, plenty of skill and an ability to synthesise their influences and produce 21st century electronica free from cliché and imitation.
is needed now More than ever
Anyone who turned up expecting Cindy Wilson to deliver a set of lukewarm solo tunes bolstered by hits from her day job didn’t just have the wrong end of the stick, they had hold of the wrong stick completely. Wilson and her band delivered a confident, entertaining and rather fabulous fourteen song set of assured, exquisitely crafted solo tunes.
Wilson was aided and abetted by her three piece band and performed material mostly from current LP Change. Lemuel Hayes’ drums took a proper battering as he’s a powerful drummer, but this wasn’t plodding pounding rather he had plenty of swing and drove the more rock material with power whilst grooving like a melonfarmer on the disco cuts. Never has a 4 x 4 beat sounded so funkalicious. Rhees Williams’ keys added colour and drive and he had plenty of sci-fi sound-clashes to decorate the tunes, at one stage sounding like he was about to lead the band in to Silver Machine. Guitar man Ryan Monahan sparkled throughout: aggressive and relentless at times; sci-fi surfing at other times and willing to give it some wocka-wocka wah-wah too, with twangy melodious leads delivered sparingly but precisely.
The material had an enticing psyche-pop chassis (Wilson a dab hand on the Theremin, dab shoulder and hip too – playing the instrument with various body parts as she shimmied around the stage) with a delightful electro / sixties pop dance body. Her voice was strong throughout, occasionally distorted via a gizmo (technical term) on her Theremin – her falsetto treated to sound like a dolphin making a distress call from a space station (meant as a compliment, it really was a fantastical soundscape).
Whilst clearly enjoying the set, all smiles and positive body language throughout, banter and stage announcements were so minimalist that not a word was spoken until the last tune – no song titles given but Wilson clearly enjoyed the show, as did the band and that positivity was matched by the audience response. Plenty of dancing, plenty of applause and a lot of love for Wilson – “You’re a Goddess” in particular raising a laugh on the stage.
Wilson and band played a delightful set of modern pop tunes, catchy and danceable and is clearly well equipped to sustain a more than viable solo career. Her song writing is strong and both material and band deserve to be heard and heard widely. If you weren’t at the show grab a listen, your only disappointment will be that you missed the gig.
Cindy Wilson: The Fleece, Monday 26th February 2018.
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