Review: Caswell, Crofters Rights

If you managed to brave leaving the house this weekend, I commend you. I briefly left the house to catch some live music, briefly followed by a windy cycle which left me close to the tarmac.

Stumbling into the back room at Crofters Rights, I was greeted with highly produced electronica and metallic riffs, it was an audio gesamtkunstwerk which had nods to The Zombies and the early ‘70s era of The Who. All members of Swallowfall are incredibly experienced and made its way to the forefront of their set. Throbbing drum sections with soaring vocal runs made for an atmospheric start to the evening.

Whilst the back room of Crofters wasn’t the busiest for a Saturday night, those who made the journey would roar in support, making up the voices of those who missed out on a double whammy of acts.

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Singer-songwriter-neo-soul-fused-alt-pop act Caswell swaggered on the stage with her live entourage of drum and bass, the trio were mighty and the sound was mammoth. Caswell’s R&B tinged vocal runs were heavenly, often combining with sweeping arm gestures reminiscent of a Mitski live performance. Their sound is contemporary and incredibly current, Caswell will be topping the charts in no time.

Making every glistening vocal run look seamless, Caswell was down to earth and charmed the entire crowd with her anecdotal musings. The highly produced ‘Surface’ was hypnotic, with drummer Fabian using a sample pad to navigate the synth laden song. All were smiling at one another and were all incredibly in-tune with each other, they weren’t afraid to take themselves too seriously which is something I warmed to. At one point Caswell proclaimed “I’ve got this fancy piece of kit in my ears so I have no idea what you’re saying!”, in response to some teenage boys attempting to get her attention.

Unfortunately this wasn’t the first time the set was disrupted, punters were loudly chatting behind me, I approached them and asked if they could finish their conversation elsewhere and to respect the artist. Loudly talking over acts is a big no in my books.

‘Stay The Night’ and ‘Dance Sober’ were both catchy yet had me laughing at how ridiculous some of the decisions were – in the best way possible. Caswell’s music isn’t your conventional pop structure, constantly twisting and contorting the off-beat with funky breakdowns and catchy hooks. It was dynamic, attentive and above all, incredibly fun to witness.

Main image supplied by Oryx Executive Search