If you have ever tried to tune in to a radio station while in London you’ll know that it can be quite a challenge — there are so many people broadcasting shows that all you usually receive is a few of them blended together. This does give you the opportunity to hear some strange new breeds of music, though — Classic FM mixed with ragga and a debate on farming methods, for example. Therefore in our house we listen to stations via the internet, a particular favourite being Resonance FM. With a very laid-back and open-minded approach, Resonance is a very reliable source of new and alternative music and has thus just renewed its five-year licence. I attended a free event that they held at Tate Britain to celebrate.
I don’t usually like attending gigs or “events” in such venues. You would think that listening to music in an art gallery would be a rather serene experience, surrounded by intelligent and creative people instead of smelly, aggressive ones. What you actually get is beautiful people pushing to the front in a very self-important manner only to celebrate their eventual success by turning their backs to the bands and talking very loudly to their uninterested friends. If they are so obsessed by the sound of their own voices why can’t they stay at home and talk to themselves?
The only band that I heard clearly enough to comment on was Blanket (allloveisdead.com), an arty-looking bunch of boys with a vulnerable-looking singer, Vicky Steer. While the boys sat huddled together playing simple and very pretty melodies on various acoustic instruments, Vicky stood alone on stage looking slightly nervous and singing with a remarkably beautiful voice, one which had a strangely still and eerie quality to it. Hers is the first British female voice that I have heard in a while that I have really enjoyed.
In a similar vein, the following evening at the Water Rats I saw the Singing Adams, a new band started by Steve Adams of the Cambridge alt-folkies the Broken Family Band. The Adamses are a group of nice boys whom you would like to be able to say were your friends. They played indie folk-songs with very clever and charming lyrics, and the following morning I got up early to get a copy of their album, Problems, a venture I am rather glad of as I am now incapable of turning it off.
thomas.ravenscroft@thetimes.co.uk