LIVE REVIEW: Olly Wood, Jim Green, Epilogues, Alice O

Fresh from recording his debut album ‘Carpe Diem’, Olly Wood takes to the stage at York’s very own Duchess with modesty.

“Everyone come closer,” he starts. “It’ll make me feel better about the lack of people.”

In fact, although not rammed, the venue was comfortably filling up – the young performer certainly has fans, perhaps mainly fellow students but with such an endearing collection of folk-pop he will soon be playing to much larger crowds, there to fully appreciate his accomplished music.

His set ranged from the opening upbeat title track to the slow, jazzier ‘Teardrops and Lullabies’, where his musical abilities were tested by a few technical hiccups but nonetheless were clearly superb. His performance ended with ‘Rising’, one of his best: a folk song with building drums and violin that gladly doesn’t fall into the Mumford and Sons trap, that is where many upcoming folk-pop artists replicate the same formulaic song.

Despite the slightly clichéd song titles, Olly Wood’s music skilfully bridges the gap between mainstream pop and more traditional folk music.

The next support came from Jim Green, filling in for Asio’s Eyes who dropped out at the last minute. Unfortunately his solo musings did not quite meet the standard already set. The experimental music disappeared over the heads of the crowd, who disbanded and made for the bar. A few tracks were interesting in concept but nothing more, and the crowd certainly found them a little too atmospheric.

Lo-fi acoustic pop duo Epilogues put the evening back on track. The York-based brothers’ set was a welcome mix of soft guitars and raw vocals, evoking the emotion the previous artist so desperately sought. The appeal of Epilogues has to be explained by the simplicity of the music – all that is there is necessary, nothing superfluous, which makes for a primitive but emotive live experience.

An interesting addition to the band’s set came from an acoustic cover of New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’. Stripping the song to its bare minimum brought out the lyrical merit, letting the vocals take centre stage: singer Mikey driving the song forward with a calm certainty in his abilities.

With the crowd swelling, headliner Alice O (plus band) took to the stage. It is immediately clear that Alice is something special; vocally she draws comparisons to Kate Bush in her slower songs, and Patti Smith comes to mind during the faster, rockier sections of her performance.

Singing with satire about modern culture and pretention, her songs are at once fun, stirring, thrilling and catchy. The gig is the first with her new band – a mixture of new and old faces on the York music scene – and it’s clear from the outset that they’re a well-suited bunch, with the kind of onstage charisma that can’t be faked.

This is indie-pop at its best: individual and unafraid to wander off-beat, playing with the audience, experimenting with reactions. ‘The Chase’ demonstrates Alice’s ability to alter pace and rhythm to great effect, bringing to mind some of Kate Nash’s better work.

Alice O closes with ‘Samuel’s Secret’, her smile saying it all; with new faces playing alongside more established acts, this has been a great night for local music and a refreshing change for the York scene.