Spread the Social Love:

Fiona Cox, Stylusboy, Chris Tye - Under the Radar @ Warwick Arts Centre [Live]

25th February 2012 | A first glimpse of the talented future of folk...

by Huw Hopkins, February 29th, 2012 and has been Read 1120 times.
Last Edited by: Glen February 29th, 2012.

Folk fans, music journalists and the Midlands finest talent descended upon the Warwick Arts Centre this past weekend to capture a first glimpse of the talented future of folk. The national theatre’s monthly Under the Radar concert, focusing on the best, regional, up and coming artists included Fiona Cox, Stylusboy and Chris Tye.

Ladies entered first as the beautiful Fiona Cox entered stage right from behind the curtain and immediately flashed her radiant, nervous smile at the expectant on-lookers. Her opening track was a perfect introduction had you not heard her work before. Supported on second guitar by Pete Falconer, the two played bouncing melodic rhythms and Cox sung simple but heart-wrenching lyrics.



Between each song she gave snippets of her story that would eventually become a tale of her worry, her break-up and her sexual prowess, post-relationship, ending with 'Dance With Me'.

Fiona’s alto voice was strong and smooth and was only disrupted by the occasional over-playing by Falconer during lead guitar sections. His use of slide guitar in 'California' missed notes and became a disappointing distraction from the lead performer.

Many songs stood up by themselves despite the linking story behind them; 'Miss Monroe' – who clearly inspires the singer with her hair and graceful beauty, 'Mrs Charming' – the story of Cinderella after being married to Prince Charming for several years, and 'I Love You To Pieces' displayed clever rhyming patterns and exciting pauses in the melody to make the latter her best song of the evening.

Every artist on the evening commented on the rare layout of the audience. In a theatre used to staging plays and drama troupes, the seating rose well above head height of the artists playing at ground level.

Stylusboy took the stage shortly after, with his briefcase in hand and trilby on his head like a security blanket. At the merchandise booth following his set, it is the same suitcase that is open presenting the hand-made Whole Picture EP’s and latest live CD release Four Walls.

Joining him on stage was the tentative but talented Rachel Grisedale, but fearing that Stylusboy would look odd being the only one with a moniker, the well-dressed guitarist dubbed his back up vocalist Bionicgirl for the evening.



From 'Open' to the closing 'Noah’s Song', Stylusboy gently danced and swayed with a wry smile on his face as Bionicgirl enjoyed watching him, slowly building up confidence and courage in her own performance and communication with the audience.

A tendency of many folk artists is to fill the songs with ‘doo doo doo’s, or ‘woah woah woah’s during instrumental sections when playing live. Full bands tend to not need this technique as other instruments provide enough entertainment, but this performer falls fowl to a slight overuse of the silence fillers, especially toward the end of an otherwise brilliant rendition of 'Gunfight at the OK Corral'.

Another well-executed song was 'Something Worth Keeping' – introduced briefly...

“What do you do when your neighbours central heating explodes and spills in to your flat ruining your best IKEA furniture? As a songwriter, you write a song… then ring the insurance company”

.

In addition to this the emotionally charged 'Dave’s Song' exhibited the combined vocal harmonies of Stylusboy and Bionicgirl; two voices that go together like a cup of tea and a slice of Victoria Sponge.

Watch: Stylusboy - 'Dave's Song' (Live)

There was a feeling of respect and appreciation from one artist to the next as each group would watch one another from the audience, the box or the side of the performance area. This meant every performer had to sheepishly walk across the stage in full view of the audience, only to walk back on again with their instruments in hand and gusto in their chests from the main stage entrance.

Last up, but certainly not the last time you’ll hear of, Chris Tye. As this fresh artist releases and promotes his new EP and tour Matchbox Stand, he recruited fellow peripatetic musicians and friends to help perform as a full band.

The group featured personalities to suit his bluesy folk sound and humerous acknowledgments of the odd audience layout

“You’re the tallest audience I’ve ever played to – well done!”

Tye’s combination of sounds stretch from Norah Jones to Badly Drawn Boy, but David Bowie’s influence is clear as he uniquely covered 'Letter to Hermione'.

'New York City Rain'and 'Blue Blue Sun'were the opening tunes that captured the audience’s attention immediately. The only drawback to his unique sound is that each song he played throughout the evening, felt like it ended 30 seconds before it should have. This was especially true in the upbeat 'Breakdown' that desperately pleads for a bridge to prolong the enjoyment.

Chris Tye impressed enough to force an encore out of the audience that would see him return and perform a different number to his main set, but a song that was perhaps more enjoyable because of it. Enjoy 'Walking in the Sun'.

Watch: Chris Tye - 'Walking in the Sun' (Live)

Stylusboy thanked the Warwick Arts Centre, a national theatre for putting on “us nobodies” and raising the profile of local artists, something not to many established performance areas do. The audience applauded in agreement.

Videos provided by Adam Nicholas Films
All photos supplied by Rob at Redwood Photography
Find Chris Tye at Chris Tye | everything has changed.
Find Fiona Cox at Fiona Cox Music - Home
Find Stylusboy at stylusboy.co.uk (The Official Stylusboy Website)