Arriving in the city where she recorded her most recent record Dear River, singer-songwriter Emily Barker is on enthusiastic form, greeting supporters and fans as she wanders round the bar.
Given how well her music would suit such grand surroundings it seems a shame that tonight’s show doesn’t take place beneath the dome of Oran Mor.
Nonetheless punters settle into their chairs in the basement for an evening of folk-inspired tunecraft from the Australian songstress and her backing group The Red Clay Halo.
Tonight’s support act, softly spoken Brighton singer Chris T-T, charms the audience with his renditions of AA Milne poems set to music, alternated with bleak songs like ‘Beaten Drum’, which focus on the depressing reality of dividing possessions after a bad breakup.
New single ‘The Bear’ is groovy folk-blues featuring the titular ursines, mad monarchs and Lenny Henry and Joan Rivers, introduced with a self-deprecating tale about the trials and tribulations of a pair of radio DJs who wished to play such a sweary track on their show.
‘Market Square’ is another Milne poem, described by T-T as being “partly about rabbits and partly about communism”.
His own lyrics are occasionally clunky but they’re delivered with a charm and verve that seems to win over the audience.
Opening with the title track of her latest record Emily Barker and her mostly female backing group deliver a shot of country-rock to Oran Mor.
The rockier arrangements of her new tracks can sometimes feel a little cluttered, though Dear River’s standout ‘Ghost Narrative’ is the closest she comes to a straight up anthem, painting an evocative picture of Australia’s challenging cultural heritage over a streamlined chord sequence.
In general though, the more arresting tracks are actually the more stripped ones, on which Gill Sandell’s accordion playing brings to mind Counting Crows and the string section of Jo Silverston and Anna Jenkins nod to the groups’ roots heritage.
The hypnotic ‘Letters’ retells her Dutch grandfather’s harrowing World War II experiences of hiding from invasion and living off the land with a piercing vocal reminiscent of Gillian Welch.
At the start of a brief solo segment Barker tells the story of how she ended up designing her own strain of coffee, on sale at the merch stand.
Her accompanying jingle flirts dangerously with New Girl-esque cutesiness but the balance is swiftly reset when she delivers both of her crime thriller themes; ‘Nostalgia’ from Swedish crime noir Wallander and ‘Pause’ from BBC2 drama The Shadow Line, and jokes that the group are waiting for the call to record their third such theme song.
For her dark murder ballad ‘Fields of June’ she invites an audience member up onstage to sing the male vocal, delivered by Frank Turner on record and even manages to persuade an audience for whom glasses of red wine not Tennants are the norm to clap along.
By the time she closes the show with a technically impressive but curiously sexless cover of Aretha Franklin’s ‘Do Right Woman’, it’s clear that despite the odd imperfection Emily Barker’s future is very bright indeed.
Words: Max Sefton
Photos: John Graham
