New Music 2016 - Part 45 - Lady Nade - Hard To Forget

When you are at a little gig and you hear something that seems too important to ignore...  I am glad to say I have been in that situation plenty of times. Some of those artists are now well known, some are not. There seems to be little rhyme or reason concerning which fall into one category or the other.

Any which way, this is one such; Bristol artist Nadine Gingell whom I first saw play live here in Frome, Somerset way back in 2011. This is her first full length release.

Lady Nade - Hard To Forget (Kitchen Sink Records/Lady Nade, 12 August 2016).

• Hard to Forget
• Waiting for You
• Mind's Made Up
• Those Late Nights
• Don't Make Him Wait
• I Got You Daddy
• Complicated
• Kiss This Troubled Mind
• 6AM
• Get You on My Own

The genre floats effortlessly between acoustic soul, pop and folk and that's not remotely a problem. The lyrics raise the bar and then the voice that sings them nails it.
That's what made me take notice back then. In that sense alone the title of the album is absolutely spot-on too.

Mind's Made Up

Acoustic+ - Frome, 15 March 2013

It has been a few months now since the last edition of Acoustic+ but it returned with a vengeance yesterday. It is, without doubt, the best evening of music that you can get for £5 and this one was the first of the series to take advantage of the new stage in the Cheese and Grain.

It started off with Lady Nade, who I have seen live in Frome twice before - at Frome Festival Food Feast 2011 (in the Cheese and Grain) and then again at Frome Folk Festival 2012 (in the Masonic Hall), but playing as a duo this time.

Both EPs, 'All I Am' and 'Wrap Me Up, Pick Me Up, Take Me Home' were selling well.

Next up was Switch, one of two three-piece acts, on what was at least nominally their first ever public gig. To be fair you wouldn't have guessed that but on the other hand, young though they are, the members have both history and fans!

Switch have a self-titled CD EP and it seemed to be doing good trade too.

Next to play was Daisy Chapman, solo this time, and her third appearance at Acoustic+. She was showcasing some songs from the album 'Shameless Winter', to which I shall return before long. She decided to perform her opening song a capella. She had inadvertently left her tambourine at home, which might explain the vexed countenance, but the situation was soon rescued by Switch that loaned her one.

She also obliged us with the appropriate, given the weather yesterday, cover version that she played on her last visit to Frome - that being Rihanna's 'Umbrella'. One thing that was particularly noticeable this time was the use of live self-looping as accompaniment on many songs. I'm sure she did it before but perhaps I have become more attuned to spotting what is happening and how it is done.

Last to play was Crash and The Coots and they most certainly didn't disappoint either.

The next edition of Acoustic+ is on April 26.

Acoustic+ is back in Frome.

Friday, March 15 at the Cheese and Grain, Frome. Adults: £5; Children & un-waged £2.50.

  

I might add that this is a serious declaration of intent on the part of the organisers.

  
If you didn't see Lady Nade at either Frome Festival Food Feast 2011 or (the much missed in 2013) Frome Folk Festival 2012 then this is another chance. Likewise Daisy Chapman, another artist I have seen twice before at Acoustic+.  If you wonder what I mean then head to her most recent (2012) album 'Shameless Winter'.
  
Acoustic+ is just about as good value for money as it gets and I've only mentioned half of the line-up thus far!
Crash and The 'Coots (formerly Crash and The Bandicoots) are certainly well known locally. Now a four-piece you can find out more here (Facebook) and here (Soundcloud). Last but not least, is Switch (Facebook) and also on Soundcloud. It has not previously figured in these pages in its own right. This is the début EP (in its various colour schemes).

If there is one thing to be said about it all, it is the organizers of Acoustic+ don't get the credit that they deserve.

Lady Nade - live in Frome

Yesterday evening was the combined Frome Festival Feast and Acoustic+. It was all good - the food, the weather, the music and the impressive turnout being just four things that readily come to mind. About the appearance of Frome's mayor in a swimming costume, but still with the regalia that befits his status, I am less sure [but I do have a picture]. Rather than attempt a full low-down on the events I will mention two things.
The first is that there were so many children there, from infants upwards, and most were interested in the music. The other observation is that just sometimes one act will, for all the great endeavours of the others, simply steal the show. I've seen this a couple of times before, mostly at festivals, and one of the tricks is that as well as it being an unpredictable phenomenon they do so seemingly without trying.

Yesterday was a case in point and Bristol's Lady Nade was the one to pull it off. Soul-jazz it might be but it is most certainly inflected by her remarkable contralto. I'd already heard it recorded and even so it was a surprise live. Watching what happened when people walked in from outdoors - many probably just wondering where their kids had gone - was very interesting.

  

Most of the kids were upfront and most of the adults just stood and listened.