Music / Review
Review: Ellie Gowers, The Wardrobe Theatre – ‘In this world of the disposable, Gowers is making memories that last’
Picture this. You’re pulling an old box of photos out of an attic. Blowing the dust off of it, gently taking a few of them out. As you flip through them you notice faces of years gone by, you see people doing jobs that no longer exist, you see those that you’ve lost, places almost forgotten.
Watching Ellie Gowers at The Wardrobe Theatre, on the first night of a short tour as a precursor to her brilliant debut album, is a bit like that. She knows all about the forgotten and, accompanied by her incredible voice, a guitar, upright bass (Lukas Drinkwater) and a violin (Emily Dore), wants to help us to remember.
Each song is a sepia snapshot; so many of them featuring a new character, another little slice of history, a different memory. The gentle foot tapper of Woman of the Waterway, the exquisite The Last Warwickshire Miner – leading to a hushed sing along – and a devastating solo The Ribbon Weaver all introduce us to someone new. Gowers draws each person with care and love, they spring to life and their hardships and triumphs are reflected in her high, pure voice.
is needed now More than ever
Maybe some of those photos are of other folk singers. Anne Briggs and Shirley Collins are probably in there. Both staring straight ahead, ploughing their own furrows. Gowers is, clearly, a fan and there’s more than a little of their timeless, ethereal image to be found in many of her songs. A Letter to the Dead Husband of Mary Ball is absolutely peak Folk – eight verses, sung entirely acapella and featuring both a poisoning and a hanging. You just don’t get more Folk than that.
It’s when the photographs suddenly turn from black & white to colour that the whole set comes to life. Brightest Moon is her next single and, with its “Come in, come in” chorus, threatens to be a sing-along anthem for refugees everywhere. Waking Up to Stone seethes with a very English anger and strums against HS2. Then there’s Against the Tide, the song that closes this lovely, intimate performance. Buoyed by Lukas Drinkwater’s springy, sleazy bass it’s bluesy and smoky, cracked and gorgeous. A song that’s well worth waiting for.
In this world of the deletable, the disposable and the digital, Ellie Gowers is making memories that last.
Main photo: Gavin McNamara
Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
