“Have you got Flo’s album yet?” I
was asked by a fellow front-row punter at Nick Parker’s excellent Winchester
gig last Saturday (gig 1,319), to which I had to admit, nope, I had yet to
avail myself of the debut release by Nick’s daughter, burgeoning songstress and
singer-songwriter Flo Parker Bombosch. Having heard some intriguing comments
about said disc – less overtly wordy or jolly than the old man’s stuff, and
more in an introspective, contemplative indie folk vein – I’d been meaning to
check it out anyway, so made another mental note to order it when I got paid at
the end of the month. However, aimlessly scrolling Facebook earlier this
afternoon accelerated that deadline, as I stumbled across a Flo gig; tonight,
at The Tuppenny as part of their regular acoustic Thursday Night Music Club
series, no less!
So plans were hastily made, necessitating my wife’s return from a theatre afternoon in Bristol to allow a curious Logan and myself to head up the hill about 8.30, wandering in the ‘Tupp as and standing by the door, house left, as opener Sienna Wileman was still in the early stages of her set. A young songstress herself, she resembled Bernard Black’s “Summer girl” from “Black Books” and, backed up by her dad on guitar, a decent line in melodic, rootsy folky tuneage, with an upbeat “Make Memories” and a melancholic “3 a.m. Thoughts” notable numbers. Possessor also of a fair set of pipes, apparently, as a mid-set “Petals” featured a strident middle-8 build powered by some equally overt vocals from Sienna, prompting Logan to take a step back!
John Hare, the talented multi-instrumentalist from Nick’s False Alarms and evidently doing Parker double-shift duty as a member of Flo’s Escape Lane, recognised us as the reprobates who’d bothered him for a set-list last Saturday (!) and popped over for a brief chat, also promising us his and Flo’s front row seats when they were due to set up! We happily took them up on their offer, grabbing said spot at the end of Sienna’s set and chatting between sets with promoter Ed, doing mixing desk duties to our right. Flo, John and guitarist Nick, the acoustic iteration of the 5-piece full-band Escape Lane, then eased into opener “Perfection”, a melancholic stripped-back number which for me had tinges of R.E.M.’s “Drive”. “Erased”, another delicate slice of pastoral melancholy which featured a circular keyboard refrain from John recalling Sigur Ros’ “Hippipola”, followed in short order, and “Magpie” featured some lovely 3-part harmonies from the band.
The set was largely drawn from Flo’s
album, which, fleshed out by a full band production, should really sound like a
Madder Rose or a Sundays, wistful slow-burn yet intelligently crafted Americana
folk clashing with introspective, understated and delicate indie; so, happily,
pretty much as advertised! And Flo’s voice is lovely, a clear lilting innocent
Mary Lorson-like tone giving extra credence to that Madder Rose comparison (for
me, at least), and shown to its best effect at close quarters such as the Tupp.
Nice line in covers too; 4 thrown in tonight to flesh out the set to 13 songs, including
a heartfelt cover of Del Amitri’s “Move Away Jimmy Blue” (which I saw the Dels
do themselves, way back in 1987 – gig 91! – before our paths diverged) and a
totally apposite Death Cab For Cutie number, the understated heartbreak of “Tiny
Vessels”, Flo in particular gushing about seeing DCFC in August at All Points
East…
The pastoral “High Horse” closed out a delightful little set, a fine introduction to Flo’s music and one which will definitely prompt me to catch the full band in future. Bought the album (of course), then had a chat with Flo and John about my Del Amitri-bothering 80’s past, before quick farewells to sundry folks (including Ben Sydes, a spectator tonight) and a swift drive home before Logan’s kebab got cold! Quite a different “live” experience from last Saturday, then, but good to see Flo demonstrating that her dad’s not got the monopoly on talent and strong songwriting in the Parker family!
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