We went down to Rescue Rooms to watch The Staves serenade Nottingham, and discovered that expressing yourself has never been simpler than watching the sisters on stage...
Re-emerging as a sibling duo, The Staves are a palpable tour de force in folk fluidity and freedom. They’ve captured within their guitar amps an iridescent knack for peace of mind, and the music of Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor is the perfect prescription for a good time.
On the back of their new album, All Now, they debuted their first show of the UK leg in Nottingham. It’s a promising sign that the Rescue Rooms patio is brimming with people already for the complimentary support slot.
Anna B Savage truly lives up to her surname – she’s introspectively rich in her musical accessibility and is a kinetic carousel of ballads. From the raucous ruminations of in|Flux to the emotionally charged timbre of Corncrakes, there’s an underlying sense of desperation in her sound and the crowd are hanging onto her every word. She’s a breath of fresh air.
It’s a relaxed affair tonight; the humble beginnings of a summer breeze are eclipsing our evenings, and the crowd’s anticipation is reflected warmly here. The floor is alight with carefree chatter and plenty of pints. Despite a slight delay to The Staves' arrival, the pre-show playlist is enough to keep the heads a-bobbin' and the feet a-tappin'.
Our movements are suddenly concocted into a bigger deity with the opening beats of All Now. The synth surrenders to a freefall of slow burning harmonies as the sisters take to the stage, and within the first five minutes they’ve created a soundscape unlike any other. It’s an intrinsically cinematic number to kickstart the show, a premature crescendo before we even hit the ground running. We’re one song in and yet we hardly want it to end. An incessant repeated refrain of “Isn’t it exciting? Isn’t it exciting?” truly encapsulates the band’s long awaited new album and the night ahead, and it couldn’t be more tongue in cheek.
The sisters waste no time in dredging up a world of poignancy and social commentary, transitioning fluidly into the bouncy paradox of I Don’t Say It, But I Feel It to the nostalgia-inducing Fundamental Memory.
“Unbelievable, just the two of them,” a gentleman beside me mutters, giving his mates the nudge of a shoulder. In a seasoned group of friends, these men have no qualms about expressing themselves and the impact of this music in camaraderie. “I’m not crying, you are. Give over!”
A cacophonous harmony of prolonging and belonging is simplified by that final strum of a guitar string in The Echo. It’s a swooping number of eclectic vocals and electric guitars, and signposts one of the few songs in which the sisters converse with us.
“This next one is a love song, which is quite rare for us ...” And yet the abundance of affection within this room tonight is palpable. The Staves hardly feel the need to speak beyond their sound – emblazoned with humbleness and their instruments brazen in stride, the band is intimately tender in their work.
I want to see every single one of you kissing each other!
The energy in the room tonight is truly siphoned into I’ll Never Leave You Alone; wave after sunken wave of chaste desire holds everyone’s breath captive. Arms surge around partners shoulders, the soft murmurings in their ear of the lyrics. Sailing the backdrop of the tune is a promise that evokes us to hold onto our loved ones and never let them go.
You Held It All is harrowing in its bluntness. It does make me grin with the phrase, “How many times you gonna get it right?” however, because yes: The Staves have done everything right tonight; I’ve lost count of each tender moment.
An encore greets us swiftly as the sisters have no need to rush off – penultimate track Mexico decries that post-concert clarity and is stripped back to bare vocals. The rasp and rustle of these final moments is a fantastic insight into songwriting, and you walk away from these types of shows feeling lighter.
Although missing their third counterpart, the band are staving off musical stasis one song at a time.
The Staves performed at Rescue Rooms on 15th May 2024.
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