Georgie. photo: Miles Winterburn
With London-based A&Rs finally understanding how to navigate the M1, there have been a flurry of Notts musicians putting pen to paper with one of the major labels. The latest to do so is Georgie, who has recently been snapped up by Columbia. Her set helps the early post-work crowd to decompress. Performing solo, it highlights all of her strengths - sparkling folky/Americana inflected songs carried by her strong and powerful voice. A true gem of a talent who looks set to have an exciting 2016.
First up on the main stage is Indiana whose debut album No Romeo went top twenty earlier in the year. Although this is put to one side as her and her band opts instead to showcase a whole bunch of new songs. Whereas her previous material was slow burning electronica, the new stuff we get to hear tonight still has that modern electronic edge, but it’s been injected with energetic 80s pop. It sounds exciting and infectious. The last time I saw Indiana was about a year ago and she was stood still glued to her microphone stand; but a year of touring has seen her clearly grow in confidence as a performer and her presence now dominates the stage.
Shelter Point share similar musical DNA to Indiana – artists making soulful, modern electronic music, finding the heart deep down in their machines. With hints of RnB and James Blake, the duo finely craft music that swells around the Rock City basement. If down in the basement the vibe is calm and serene, in stark contrast, upstairs, D.I.D have hordes of people riotously dancing and singing along to their melodic indie-pop. The band from West Bridgford really know their way around a solid pop-hook and clearly relish being back on the Rock City main stage, where they mix old favourites with tracks from their recent Fast Food EP including a hard hitting Hotel.
D.I.D. photo: Miles Winterburn
It feels that Kagoule have been on the road forever since the release of their debut album Urth on Earache Records. They’ve been over to New York, toured Europe, and are now living life on the motorways and in the service stations of the UK. With the end in sight, for this year at least, they have found time in their busy schedule for a pit stop in their hometown. Having recently played the main stage supporting Sleaford Mods, the noisy trio are in relatively intimate confides of the basement. It’s packed and sweaty by this point of the evening with the more enthusiastic sections of the audience moshing by the end of the band’s thrilling and thunderous set. Let’s hope that the next time they play Rock City it’s at their own headline show.
Eyre Llew. photo: Miles Winterburn
Straddling the main stage with the swagger of a man who is currently brimming with confidence is Callum Burrows aka Saint Raymond. The reception he receives is huge, with much of the crowd, especially those around me, lapping up every song and singing back almost every word. Playing huge chunks of his debut album Young Blood, Saint Raymond’s songs, with their terrace chants for choruses, are tailored made for these big gig moments. He’s the only artist that has an encore where he finds room to play early song Bonfires.
Following the bombast of Saint Raymond and closing the evening are the lush sounds of Eyre Llew. They’ve only been gigging for less than a year and started putting out music online since the back end of 2014, but in that short space of time have built up a strong and committed following around the city, hence why they’ve been added to this bill. Making an atmospheric post-rock racket, their music slowly builds and rises before eventually exploding in to huge epic soundscapes. It’s impressive stuff and on the strength of tonight I’m sure they’ll be winning even more fans and plaudits in 2016.
Our City with Eyre Llew, Saint Raymond, Kagoule, D.I.D, Shelter Point, Indiana, and Georgie took place at Rock City on Friday 4 December 2015.
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