Erin Rae Live At The Slaughtered Lamb Clerkenwell

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

This show was part of Erin Rae’s tour to promote her new album Putting On Airs that has been doing very well in the USA, it was also a warm up for the End Of The Road Festival that she was performing at alongside tonight’s main support Samuel R Saffrey.

Rowe (Ruby Gaunt)

Rowe (Ruby Gaunt)

Beginning the evening, in a packed basement, at The Slaughtered Lamb was Rowe who is a young female singer songwriter originally from Cornwall who was playing solo with an electric guitar who reminded me a lot of both Hope Sandoval and Tracey Thorne as she played barely there late night melancholic songs about love going wrong.

Rowe (Ruby Gaunt)

Rowe (Ruby Gaunt)

Her songs are full of betrayal and despair and on Part Time a feeling that she’s just one of many girlfriends. The best and what sounded like the most heartfelt was Comfort Is A Liar that was really powerful and also sounded like it would work really well with a full arrangement to help pull on our heartstrings. By the time she closed with Darker Nights she’d easily won the crowd over and I’d like to see her again with a band as well as solo.

Rowe (Ruby Gaunt)

Rowe (Ruby Gaunt)

Next on was Samuel R. Saffery who is currently based in Brooklyn but comes originally from New Zealand he had with him his band and they played mordant country folk that reminded me a lot of the Jesus Jones offshoot Blazing Zoos but with the addition of a female vocalist.

Samuel R. Saffery Samuel R. Saffery (Ruby Gaunt)

Samuel R. Saffery (Ruby Gaunt)

From the opening Ocean Of Light they were downbeat and slow and quite measured and Samuel certainly likes to sing about heartbreak and the subtle interplay between the male and female vocals worked well even if the songs aren’t that memorable.

Samuel R. Saffery (Ruby Gaunt)

Samuel R. Saffery (Ruby Gaunt)

The two songs in the set that did stand out for me were Underground which is about being at home alone while your partner is out cheating on you and the song he said was from his first band in New Zealand that he said were called something improbable like Just Say No To Tango and he brought up that bands guitarist to expand the band to a 5 piece for Carolina that had the best guitar solo of the set and then they finished with a song that sounded like a slow mellow Neil Young song about your best disguise.

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

Then it was time for Erin Rae to at times astonish me as I wasn’t expecting the incredible sounds her guitarist Jerry Bernhardt would get out of his Harmony guitar and pedal board that added otherworldly sounds that helped take them to another level and really captivate everyone present.

Bad Mind was the first song in the set that tackled some of the issues Erin has faced while coming to terms with who she is and how others perceive her and her sexuality in the Southern States of America and it was really powerful with her voice full of emotion and reminiscent of Linda Ronstadt it also had some really cool brushwork from her drummer.

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

Erin switched to an Acoustic guitar for Clean Slate where she just wants things back how they were before but knows it won’t happen. The title song of the new album Putting On Airs sounded really cool and we’ve all been guilty of this at one time or another.

Erin went back to her white Fender for Like The First Time that had some great shimmering guitar from Jerry to help accentuate the lyrics of well that first time. Futile Attempts has some rather thought provoking lyrics that worked really well to keep us all listening closely as all sorts of spectral guitar figures accompanied it.

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

They stripped things backed to a duo of Erin and Jerry for Playing Old Games that sounded serious until they both started to giggle after Erin missed a cue and it then took them about three more attempts to get through the song without falling apart again it was good fun. They had no such trouble on The Real Thing that had a really cool slide guitar part on it.

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

Erin Rae (Ruby Gaunt)

The rest of the band came back on and Erin challenged us on our pronunciations before they sang Monticello and she uses the local way of saying it. Love Like Before asks all sorts of questions in a nice subtle way so they get a point across without it being too obvious. They closed with a cool version of Can’t Cut Loose that guaranteed they left the stage to huge applause.

Yes Erin and Jerry came back for an encore and played a song from Erin’s first album about not apologising it was a cool end to a very good show and of course one last chance to hear both Erin’s great voice and Jerry’s often spectral guitar playing. They are well worth seeing live.


Live Review by Simon Phillips and Photography by Ruby Gaunt of Erin Rae, Samuel R. Saffrey and Rowe live at The Slaughtered Lamb Clerkenwell on 30th August 2018

 

Andrew Cushin (Tom Hill)

Newcastle’s Andrew Cushin Is Waiting For The Rain

The north-east’s next breaking star Andrew Cushin has dropped  his eagerly anticipated debut album Waiting For The...
Herkedal (Press)

Herkedal Shares Wild Raspberries & Plum Trees EP

Herkedal is a young artist with a veteran soul. His songs are rich with evocative nostalgia and timeless musicianship,...
Karen Harding (Press)

Karen Harding Drops Debut LP Take Me Somewhere

Karen Harding has released her debut album Take Me Somewhere via Ultra Records today. Marking the release Karen has...
Shawn Colvin @ Union Chapel (Kalpesh Patel)

Shawn Colvin Charms At Union Chapel

Shawn Colvin has been to the UK many times. In fact, she regales us with tales of how her early days of playing and...
ØXN (Megan Doherty)

ØXN Drop Nine Minute Cruel Mother Ahead Of Album Release

ØXN, the experimental doom folk band comprising Radie Peat, Katie Kim, John ‘Spud’ Murphy and Eleanor Myler, have...
Jamie Miller (Press Photo)

Jamie Miller Leaves Nothing Unsaid In Empty Room

Having come from humble beginnings in working class Wales, L.A.-based artist Jamie Miller has become a breakthrough...
Sisters Of Mercy @ Roundhouse (Adrian Hextall)

The Sisters Of Mercy Kick Off UK & European Tour In Tumultuous Style

This was the first of two shows The Sisters Of Mercy were playing at Camden's famous Roundhouse venue at the start of...
Dexys (Sandra Vijandi)

Oh Geno! Dexys Divide The Crowd At The London Palladium

With the promise of a full performance of their first album in seven years, it’s easy to see why the long-standing...

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing