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I headed over to London last night in
anticipation of catching up with old acquaintances and intent on making new
ones. I was going to see Lavinia Blackwall’s new musical venture since leaving
the highly rated Trembling Bells in 2018. The gig was at The Social which has
seen its fair share of upheaval recently and currently is still a venue for
live sounds – a wonderfully cosy and tight space built for all sorts of
hedonism to go off.
Tonight I was to be part of this hedonism
with a side of gentle inflection and introspection. And for Monday in this part
of town it was heartening to see that the show had sold out. The third to sell
out on this short tour of cities and spaces up and down the country. Now selling out a show is great for the band
but as I travelled on a train into Charing Cross the news that I wasn’t going
to get in had me pondering what my next move would be.
It’s here that Marco Rea came to my rescue.
Marco is simply the best. A Superda extraordinaire and one part of Lavinia’s
Stilton – her incredible band of musical brothers bringing light and shade to
her lyrical journeys. Marco has been creating wonderful sounds from Scotland
for sometime now, a man born full of melody and harmony that comes out in
abundance tonight. I first became enthralled
to Marco’s musical world as he and Stuart Kidd sang together as The Wellgreen
before a Euros Childs gig way back when. Marco has remained pretty much constant in my
musical life ever since. And boy was I
glad he was in it now – a quick message here and there and Marco had me in and
I was very much relieved.
First up were Solveig and Mike offering
surreal folk trips and dreams in violin and acoustic guitar with harmonies
cartwheeling and rolling around in lyrical play and smiles. I wasn’t sure what
I was going to think – I don’t have the folk antennae – I can’t always here the
connections or the drift from the norm. Yet I felt I was being challenged by them
– in a good way. It made me curious to check them out further. They also
recounted stories of falling in ditches which tickled me, sang tales of
sandwiches, misheard a request for a song with Kite in the title and brought to
life the cinema of the sea. Not many
groups can do this in one set. Technically they are wonderful and Mike’s
acoustic guitar ticklings and jangles are complimented by the supberb violin of
Solveig creating a rising folk psychedelia for the growing crowd. Although I hope Mike doesn’t have to play in
such tight spaces for the rest of the tour as his accident prone frame nearly
caused the violin to be absent for the rest of the set (possibly tour) after he knocked it in a moment of punching
the air. A great opening set and they
would later return to help out Lavinia and her ever expanding band.
John Martin played next - a person’s name but a band – do you get me?
He’s John but there were other people there on the stage. There were flashes of
beatific chord sequences and witticisms in jangles and tremolo. Reminded me of
The Divine Comedy.
Then came the psychedelic beast of Green
Seagull bedecked in the ramalamma of late sixties freakbeat fashions. They had
this
So after three quality sets the main act
arrived and there was a good crowd and a good feeling about it all. Now at this point I am yet to be able to name
all the songs and like a fool I forgot to swipe a set list to help me piece
this all together. So it’s going to get rambling. Lavania arrives backed by the kaftan bedecked
Stilton a sort of pop folk glam group of wayward souls who know how to party
and dance the night away. The set showcases
the range of Lavania’s vocal sorcery moving through the scales and tones with
ease. It really is quite mesmerizing and in Zepplin’s words, ‘tight but loose’
adding rich textures to the groove and goo of Stilton. Marco has written a few
songs with Lavania and all have this richness to them as they start one place
and then by way of George Harrison, Neil Young, Arthur Lee and some part of Wings
end somewhere else in a perfect blend of chime and harmony. Pop punch in folk
structures. It works and the crowd knows it too. Whilst all of this might be
new to us and even to Lavinia (after all these are new songs only just getting
aired and may not yet be finished) there’s an understanding that they will
become classics and we are witnessing the start of a different chapter in
Lavinia’s choral quest for something after the bells have stopped.
The night has a fun feel to it. It’s not
earnest - nor serious – but it is
honest. There’s in song chatter and discussion including some recollections
about lost phones in ditches (the theme of the tour) and projectile vomiting in
Oxford Circus. We also get to hear the tales of the tunes - one song ‘Watson’ is apparently about a
werewolf who is committing murders and the detective investigating is actually
the suspect. To be fair it works better in melody and performance than me
trying to explain it here. Another was
called ‘Keep Warm’ – you can probably work that one out yourself.. It isn’t all
one tempo of souped up folk glam rock shenanigans some songs aired tonight have
a creeping melancholic undertow to remind us that sometimes things can be lost
and not clear in this day and age. There are waltzes and ballads mixed within
the up-tempo adding to the dynamics and all round brilliance of what will surely
be a storming debut album which we’ll hopefully get to hear this year.
For the final numbers – there could have been
three or possibly two – Lavinia and Stilton are joined by Solveig and Mike.
It’s getting rather cramped up there and I’m not sure The Social can contend
with that many musicians on ‘stage’ at any one time. To be fair you can’t really
say Seb was on stage – he’s pushed up in the passage to the toilet – but he
still played like a trooper adding flourish and power throughout the evening to
Lavania’s delicate sounds. However
Solveig and Mike are a good addition further complimenting the charm of it all.
As violin merges with acoustic guitars, melody filled guitar licks and shapes,
pianos , expert bass, tight rhythms and soaring vocals it only adds a further
magical quality to it all. Finishing
with an incredible version of current single “Waiting for Tomorrow ’ the
night is over. There are shouts of ‘play it again’ and ‘more’ but it’s not to
be – it’s 11 o’clock on a Monday and time to get home and rest for the day
ahead.
I told Lavinia and Marco that I
was going to pursue a Kate Bush fronting The Lost White Album take to it all –
but the more I return to the evening and listen closer to the sounds on the
single – I’m hearing Joni Mitchell – this is Joni’s ‘Esher’ sessions - a White Album conceived through another
dimension of feeling. Live there’s a Beatles sense of playfulness throughout
whilst the vocals send you somewhere else. There’s a nod to the past and a rush
to the future with this folk rock feeling. This band and their music comforts
in its reminder of previous times yet feels modern and alive as it delivers
smile after smile in abundance.
I’m glad I know Marco because it led me to this.
Lavinia BlackALL and Stilton have already
sold out three dates this tour. They will go on to sell out even more.
I had a
wonderful time and you will too - go and
see them - they are still out on the
road this week.
You can find music by them here: https://laviniablackwall.bandcamp.com/releases
Here’s the video for “Waiting for Tomorrow’
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