It is quite rare that new live music comes to south west London rather than going north or east, so when I heard that the Coveryard were bringing one of my favourite folk artists Alice Boman to play at the TESTBED1 just around the corner from Walrus Towers, and backed by a 22-piece orchestra – it was not invite I was going to turn down.
TESTBED1 is essentially an empty warehouse room attached to the Doodlebar, and not a venue that sees a lot of events, but the industrial surroundings added to the ambience of the night, helping to reduce any pretensions that sometimes accompany an orchestra.
Alice Boman was first to perform, and whilst it was the lo-fi and stripped bare sound of her debut Skisser EP that made me fall for her sound – being backed by an orchestra gave her songs a beautiful depth. Her ethereal voice layered over soft strings and brass was breathtaking, with single Waiting utterly mesmerising.
Between each act, the orchestra played a few covers of pop songs (hence the name Coveryard) to keep the audience excited, with their rendition of Portishead a particular highlight. Their live record with an orchestra from the Roseland NYC has always been a favourite of mine…
Second on was blues raconteur Tarq Bowen, playing to the biggest crowd of his career showing that it is not just folk tunes that can be transformed by the orchestra. I think I would have liked a little more use of the orchestra though, and a little less bongos, once he hit his foot-tapping stride he had the audience in the palm of his hand.
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker closed the evening with a more traditional folk sound. The orchestra brought a little warmth to their songs of tragedy and death, but careful not to distract from Walker’s understated performance and Clarke’s hypnotising vocals. I think it would probably be easiest to sum up the strength of their set with the effect it had on the audience – leaving them in stunned silence with more than a few teary eyes.
All photos courtesy of TODD Creative Services