Music / Reviews
Review: She Makes War, Thunderbolt
Another great value for money bill at the Thunderbolt then – three bands for a fiver, convivial atmosphere and good beer. Where else would you rather be on a Friday?
First up, My Style, a young Bristol based duo – Mac McCormick on guitar and vox & Talia Smulian also vox – playing a brief set of covers and originals. There’s a relaxed urban groove to their set and their tune Warrior (with some nice lyrical twists and turns) matched an inventive cover of Five Man Army. Well worth making an effort to see when you get the chance. Alan from Schnauser proved what a fluid and inventive guitar player he is, covering his own band’s tunes solo. To be fair though, a song about robbing corpses of their teeth to make dentures in the 18th century really does require the thunder of a fully functioning Schnauser – so a great appetizer that whets the appetite for a full band show. Sooner rather than later please.
Laura Kidd, performing as She Makes War, delivered a uniformly excellent set drawn from her two recordings along with a couple of cracking tunes from the work-in-progress third outing. Oh and a couple of Britpop covers from her recent Fringe residency. Alternating between ukulele and gnarly guitar, Laura’s songs are well written and delightfully delivered with witty and self deprecating banter. Far from gloom pop there’s a defiance and strength about the songs that leaves the listener feeling uplifted rather than gloomy. The beautifully performed Butterflies shone, but Delete really hit home. Laura uses loops to accompany herself – building sonic structures to improvise around, tracking her instruments to create a SMW digital orchestra to great effect. There are also incursions in to the audience with the aid of a megaphone and looped vocals; plenty of audience participation, including conducted sing-alongs, making an already intimate show feel incredibly inclusive.
She Makes War really deserves your attention, an innovative approach to live work and something different to the yards of female singer / song writers producing twee mock folk tailor made for the next must-have mobile phone advert. An artist at pains to connect with the audience (acknowledging from the stage that something as seemingly innocuous as audience chitter-chatter during quiet moments can shatter a performer’s self confidence) and yet delivering wry, amusing and laugh-out-loud stage banter about the songs’ content.
And for your homework? If you haven’t done so already, Pledge for the new SMW LP and then get yourselves down to the Louie on October 9th, it’s the annual She Makes War full band set. Be there or be square.
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