By Ewan Bissell
I noticed it one evening a couple of weeks ago – a stillness hung over the city, the air not too cold at last. I could sit outside for a few moments after finishing work without clinging to a blanket. It seemed like a changing of the seasons was close, especially with a collection
of feel good acts bound for the Crofters Rights stage.
Oscar Grouch
Oscar Grouch and his band were first up, beckoning us with an assortment of indie pop singalongs that got the crowd moving into the spring night. Oscar (pulling double duty tonight, but we’ll get onto that later) has this very affable candour on stage. Following a rearranged rendition of Sun Pasta he explains the troubles his band have been facing trying to get a decent amount of practice in.
“See, we all have dissertations.” he explains. It’s that time of year after all. “Mine’s going great“, he adds as the crowd burst with laughter. Oscar’s got a great rapport with his audience, and is naturally charming in conversation, a trait that extends to his songwriting too.
The standout from the set was certainly That’s Something, written in January of this year, it’s a quick song driven along by its incessant structure and vocals. Eventually the instrumentation went off the edge it had been inching towards, with the drums and guitar going on the attack and pushing the structure to its outermost limits. The result is euphoric, that so much is squeezed out of a very tight performance.
The atypical intensity of that song soon gave way to something more typical of Oscar’s more laid back energy. A gentle ballad called Who Can I Give My Heart To? Between this and the closer, Oscar slips in a brilliant uptempo rendition of Drake’s Passionfruit.
The rhythm section give the song a real zip, and Oscar’s vocals bring an anxious urgency that he almost lets get away from him at times. He transforms the song entirely into being his own, at times, untameable beast. It fits into the set effortlessly, the cherry on top being two brief but cutting guitar solos that punctuate the choruses.
Oscar like any good opener gets the crowd moving with his closer – getting them to sing along to Dead Conversation a blues/country influenced cut with a steady beat and ultra-realist lyrics – “Well I’m calling all the girls in my contact/Praying that they don’t call
back.”
It all ends too soon as he’s ushered off the stage calling on the adoring crowd to check them out on Spotify, candidly as ever.
FFO: Rex Orange County, Green Day, The Walters, Wilco
The sensational Immy was next up, her unique blend of neo-soul and jazzy pop a natural followup to the blissed-out tone Oscar Grouch had worked hard to set. She immediately blew the crowd away with a nasty rendition of an unreleased tune – Kiss Me.
“Tell me that you love me/Don’t make it too soon/I won’t waste a moment/Just one chance with you...”
She works her way around the bass fretboard with prompt virtuosity, made all the more impressive by her beautifully rich singing at the same time. Accompanied by the outrageous MJ Caps on the drums (see also Grack Mack & the Pack) and Phoenix playing the stankiest keys on earth, the three piece tore the house down with their funky opener.
“Oscar was fucking insane” she blurts out and raves about his performance and how she couldn’t possibly follow it, but with just one song is able to establish herself alongside him.
Immy and the band go on through the set with all the aplomb of their opener. Smooth tones emanating from the keys compliment her luscious vocals that range from a heavy baritone to a lilting higher range. Her songwriting holds true alongside the outstanding musicianship, with Pretty In Person a particular standout for its matter of fact lyricism over one of their more straightforward songs.
Introduced as a Love/Hate song, it switches quickly from first verse to second -
“I didn’t think you’d be this pretty in person” becomes “I didn’t think you’d be this shitty in person”
It’s gradually texturised in percussion by Caps from the back in a pure, mature way
Immy calls back to It’s A Wonderful Life with her next track If You Love The Moon , asking you to pass over her lasso, a declaration of doing anything, no matter at all for the one she loves of course.
It would be an affront to pick out a single instruments’ preeminence to the song due to the group’s incredible chemistry, each leaving a gap so instinctively filled by the other.
It really can’t be stressed enough how impressive Immy is being able to pull off these bass patterns while singing with this this character in her voice at the same time. Phoenix had been shining through the whole set though has a couple of solos, tickling those ivories into new heights.
After a gorgeous rendition of new track Out of the Blue (dedicated to her in attendance girlfriend, which was a particularly feel-good moment) they closed on the very quick Love Sick, a brisk breakup tour de dance with yet another piercing bassline from the main lady herself.
The soulful soothing chorus though is what hands over the unbelievable instrumentation more than anything. You can always rely on Immy to bring your mind back to the comfortable after its been blown to pieces, however in vain it may be.
Catch Immy at The Great Escape festival in May, listen to all her stuff on Spotify, and keep up her latest stuff on Instagram @immystroud
FFO: Sly & the Family Stone, Cory Wong, Stone Cold Hustle, Zappa
Felix Ross was the main event, a Tiktok star with flourishing pop rock credentials and Oscar Grouch returned, this time occupying stage left on lead guitar.
He opened with Leaving, the opening track from his resent EP, a cutesy ballad with a nice ooh-ooh hook that immediately provoked a full crowd singalong. It seemed almost too obvious that they were about to become the sound of the Bristolian summer as the instrumentation dropped and, I shit you not, every single person around me knew all the words to the chorus.
It was, frankly, a stunning sound and sight, that set the tone nicely for the rest of the show. Felix was on good form on the mic too, slagging off London in favour of his Bristolian crowd, though it made me wonder if he was aware of just how many Londoners live in Bristol these days.
They went into Hallelujah for their second track which opens with a divine choral harmony and steady build up before giving way to a tight blues inspired riff. Their live version featured a punchy piano as opposed to the more firm synths on the studio version, which only added more energy to a performance that had a bouncing crowd hanging on every
word.
As the set went on having Oscar as his left hand man was such an asset too, having the time of his life playing soaring guitar solos and singing along to every word with all the passion of the devoted fans who made the trip out to see them.
The pièce de résistance was a full blooded version of Afterglow, complete with Oscar shredding his echoed guitar for the main riff, arpeggiated synths and a big shift of 180 bpm drumming. For their closer Felix opted for slow and passionate, and the closing track off the record – Blind.
The solmness of the song, the togetherness of the brothers on stage, and the crowd, many of whom were out to see Felix for the first time, all belting every word was enough to touch even those with steel hearts. A cheer erupted as Felix sang his last note and the show came
to an end.
The lights came up and as we stepped out into the night, I noticed again a lack of frost in my beard. A lack of shiver in my spine. Spring had sprung and hope had returned to the streets of Bristol, and it might just have had something to do with Felix Ross.
FFO: Panic!, Razorlight, The 1975, The Killers
Comments