CD Review: Chantel McGregor–Like No Other

Thursday 28th April: It sounds like the sort of 5-point plan that a lot of bands/artists will have:

1. Play gigs in pubs to get noticed by the public. Maybe try to get a few support slots.
2. Get on stage with one or two of my heroes, widen the fanbase.
3. Move on to headline slots at ticketed venues.
4. Break into mainland Europe and get some radio airplay.
5. Write and release a superb debut album that deserves the sort of wider recognition that more established bands get.

(I know, I’ve merged a couple of steps together to bring it down to five, but it’s my review…)

I doubt, however, that many have completed the plan in what seems as little time as Chantel McGregor, whose album Like No Other, was released just a couple of weeks ago. It’s actually three years since I first saw Chantel live (and was blown away by what turned out to be the soundcheck), but it seems a lot less and it I’ve been eagerly awaiting the album since it was first mentioned, with the feeling that it would have the potential to be my favourite album of whatever year it was actually released in. So, does it live up to my expectations?

Opening with a sort of heavy riff, Fabulous soon defies expectation by adding electronic effects and bursting into life as a Pop-rock song about living for the weekend that wouldn’t feel out of place on a release by the likes of Cheryl Cole. As somebody who has touted Chantel as a Blues/Rock artiste to people who are “serious” music fans, I can’t help but think it’s not the track to open the album with, if only because I don’t think some of those people would be put off by it. Personally, I’ve grown to like it more and more. It’s catchy, the electronics aren’t too intrusive and Chantel’s guitar work is always going to raise it above the level of any average pop song.

I’m No Good For You also opens with a riff, this time a Delta blues one that starts off sounding as though it’s been lifted directly from vinyl before emerging as a much cleaner sound. This is more like what I was expecting. Livingstone Brown’s bass is stunning, Chantel’s different guitar lines are brilliantly overlayed on top of each other and her voice is pure emotion.

Like No Other shows another of Chantel’s influences. After a slow, beautifully sung beginning, it blossoms into something very like Fleetwood Mac. You can almost hear Stevie Nicks singing the lyrics. It’s a very laid-back song with a brilliant instrumental middle-section.

Freefalling is one of only two of the original songs on the album that I had heard before. It has been tweaked a bit since the version I remember hearing live and takes the album back into slightly heavier, rockier territory. As far as I can tell, there’s no tweaking on the vocals, showing that Chantel can sing with power when required and it’s perhaps this track that shows Chris Taggart’s drums at their best. It’s a great song live, retains its power in the recorded version and, once again, has a superb instrumental section mixing screaming guitar with a very nice riff.

Rhiannon is the first of three covers on the album. It’s a dreamy, stripped-down version of the Fleetwood Mac original, using acoustic guitar and cello as a perfect backdrop to Chantel’s lovely vocals to produce a version which I’m beginning to think is better than the original. I really hope we get to hear this version live some day.

Chantel’s album blog mentioned sitars and it’s Caught Out that opens with their sound (albeit electronically reproduced, I think, as their is no credit for them on the album), giving the song a hint of Eastern mysticism, merged with traditional rock. Once again, the guitar work is superb, although that should go without saying, and there is a nice change of pace towards the end of the song.

Robin Trower’s Daydream is a favourite of mine from Chantel’s live set. I don’t know the original at all (and really must seek it out one day) but her version has captivated me from the first time I heard it, so it is a welcome addition to the album. Clocking in at over thirteen minutes, of which much more than half is instrumental, it showcases just how exceptional a guitar-player Chantel is. Listening to it, you can visualise her fingers flying along the frets as the playing flits between intricacy and simplicity, laid-back and full on. Parts of it could lull you to sleep while other parts practically vibrate the speakers out of their housings. A beautiful song, played and sung beautifully.

Cat Song, on the other hand just doesn’t do it for me. Wholly instrumental (with added electronic effects), just over two minutes long and, I believe, inspired by Chantel’s own cat, it just feels out of place to me. It’s clever but, personally, I don’t think it’s right for the album.

It’s back to the acoustic guitar for Screams Everlasting, another lovely song which, for me, contains the best lyrics on the album. I don’t know whether to credit Chantel or co-writer Chris Bucknall with them but they are sung with so much feeling that it’s hard not to be moved by them. Switching to electric guitar for a powerful second half elevates the song beyond the traditional ballad.

Happy Song reminds me so much of something else, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. I love the vocals which, for the first time on the album, almost seem to overpower the music. There’s a folkiness to it which means that, again, it’s not what I expected from the album but I can’t help but like it. It’s difficult to describe but something about it says that if there’s ever a video made to accompany the song, it will include bits where the camera spirals around Chantel as she plays guitar in a meadow. That’s the sort of image it evokes for me.

Not Here With Me is the second original song that I have heard before. Again, it has been tweaked for the album, with some nice backing vocals and the reappearance of Jocasta Whippy’s cello. Beautiful in its simplicity, it’s more superb writing from the McGregor/Bucknall team.

The album ends with a third cover. This time it’s Sonny Boy Williamson II’s Help Me, another song I recognise from the live performances and a return to the blues that I was expecting more of. As well as more genuinely brilliant guitar playing, Chantel’s voice is at it’s very best here, effortlessly switching between oozing syrup and raw power.

If you haven’t already gathered, the album as a whole isn’t exactly what I was expecting. It’s more laid back, less heavy and less bluesy than suggested by the songs covered in the live performances. It’s still excellent, though. The whole thing has a very clean sound with Chantel’s vocals being particularly impressive all the way through. Even though a number of influences are present in the writing (and in the chosen covers) they all seem to work to complement each other. I love the way that the songs have been placed to come at you in waves, building in power before easing away again and, notwithstanding the placing of Fabulous at the beginning and the inclusion of Cat Song, it’s the first album I can remember listening to where the placing of the songs seems to matter. There’s a long way to go in 2011, but I can definitely see this being one of my favourites of the year, if not my overall favourite. Chantel can be justifiably proud of what is a stunning debut album

…and might I suggest that the above plan might just have two more steps. You never know, they might happen sooner than you think:

• Get picked up by a major label
• Headline stadium gigs.

And They Played Forever And Ever.

Friday 15th April: After what seems like an age some of the gang get together as Roj, Lynn and I meet up at an incredibly warm Fibbers for three bands that are, I think, new to us all. I’ve even managed to convince friend/work-colleague/music-fan Richard to use some of his new found freedom to come along for a taste of something different.

I had been warned in advance that openers Panic Procedure’s line-up for this evening was slightly different to that listed on the link, with Antony Capstick stepping in on rhythm guitar at relatively short notice (two weeks and one rehearsal to learn four songs…) He started off looking a bit nervous (as you would) but soon seemed to loosen up and the fact that he only played two thirds of the set lent itself nicely to a hint of humour during our chat afterwards – “I’ve never seen a guitarist sacked halfway through a set before.” Also, looking slightly nervous was Hayley, and that might have been the reason that her vocals came across a bit flat to start with, although they did improve as the set went on. Musically, the band aim to play “rock with killer riffs” and they just about hit that mark. I didn’t catch many of the titles but those I did get (or guess) were Never Give Up On You, the slower and more atmospheric Get There In The End, which included a very nice guitar solo from Nick and something with the word “Drowned” in the title. The set’s fifth song that started out with much sparser guitars (that’ll be because Antony had left the stage…) and was more bass heavy and they ended with something that sounded much heavier. Musically, Panic Procedure are very good. Unfortunately tonight, for me anyway, the vocals were a bit weak. It may be that they improve with time and, let’s face it, the sound system at Fibbers doesn’t always do vocalists any favours. The band have two more gigs coming up on the 5th of May at Stereo, York and the 7th of May at Selby’s Riverside.

Despite an on-stage look of a much grungier Haircut 100, primarily due to their high strung guitars, Scarborough’s The Tiny Eyes bill themselves as “punk rock indie”. They certainly had a very generic indie sound to them, but that didn’t stop us all being impressed by their energy, strong vocals and overall performance. Again, failing to introduce the first song doesn’t help me with a set round-up, but second song Truth And Lies was followed by the radically different Mad Hatter. He Can Be Nice featured more spoken lyrics (think Blur’s Parklife), while This City Can Be Ours By The End Of The Night was an out and out rocker. The set ended with a slower song, featuring some excellent backing vocals from bass-player Mat. The band were a bit disjointed between songs, often taking quite long breaks where they seemed to be discussing what song to play next and there was little interaction with the audience (apart from Carl telling us that he liked York and liked it even more after winning a netbook at McDonalds earlier in the day) but the music was excellent and very tight in all the songs. Definitely worth seeing again.

And so to the headliners. Jeniferever hail from Uppsala, Sweden, are touring their third album Silesia and have been around for fifteen years, something which seems hard to believe given Kristofer Jonson’s university-age appearance. Likened to Sigur Ros, who I like, and Appleseed Cast, who I’ve never heard of, I would suggest a more apt link would be The Engineers (although I suspect fewer people will have heard of them than of Sigur Ros) with their ambient, shoegazing rock building to stunning crescendos, and rounded off with soaring although somewhat unclear vocals. I’m afraid I took no notes as to the song titles, partly because I could hear most of them through Jonson’s almost sullen tone and partly because I just like to let this sort of music wash over me. This is a multi-instrument band in the fullest sense of the word, with three sets of keyboards and a variety of guitars on stage, there was only drummer Frederik Aspelin who stuck to one instrument, if a drum kit can be said to be one instrument. The rest moved between the various pieces of kit and were, for at least one song, the only band I have ever seen feature two bass players and the second one even helped out on drums for another song. Rich harmonies and dense wall-of-sound music made this one of the best performances I’ve seen this year and I’m looking forward to finding time to really listen to the new album.

Misty Played For Us

Monday 11th April: Given my last two start-of-the-week outings, I was a little bit apprehensive about going to another Monday night gig. One advantage of The Basement Bar is that it is a lot smaller than the other venues I frequent so, if it was a small audience, it wouldn’t look quite so empty. Conversely, a disadvantage would be that, if it was a small audience, even lingering at the back would leave you quite visible from the stage. It turns out that I needn’t have worried as a reasonably large audience made the place look quite full and I didn’t have to feel any guilt about helping to turn away the extremely drunk young man who tried to get in. (Although, if I’m honest, I doubt he even knew where he was, let alone who he might have seen if he’d been allowed in…)

Opening tonight was a young lady with the rather tongue-twisting name of Alice Ostapjuk. Self taught on the guitar and playing solo after several attempts to form a band, her quirky mannerisms and, in some ways, her voice may have given the impression that she would somehow be better as a comedy act but some of her lyrics had the ability to take your heart and wring tears out of it. Despite playing just an acoustic guitar, Alice opened with a cover of Where Did Our Love Go? (Diana Ross and the Supremes) which was instantly recognisable as one of their songs but very different to the original. From then on, it was mostly her own songs, continuing with Samuel’s Secret, the introduction for which showed her comedic overtones even if she did, in my opinion, blow the delivery by extending the story just a few words too far. Tripping, a new song, was written because a hatred of arguments and was followed by another cover, this time Fairground Attraction’s Perfect, which she had only learned recently and, despite starting off wrongly, gave a pretty good rendition. Then came the emotion. What About Us? was dedicated to her Gran, who loved to listen to her sing and, presumably, is no longer with “us” as the lyrics deal with those left behind – “The angels they took care of you, but what about the rest of us? Left bleary-eyed, we cried and cried and cried.” – and the song is delivered in such a heartfelt fashion, I suddenly found myself welling up. Thankfully, Paper Planes And Shooting Stars was much more uplifting and had the audience clapping along. Alice finished with The Chase, which was inspired by a dream and prompted another humorous story during the introduction. With a clipped but emotive delivery, simple but varied playing and, at times, some very mature writing, Alice is definitely worth checking out if you like acoustic folk/pop and most of the set can be found on Soundcloud.

Next up was David McCaffrey who, it has to be said, seemed to have managed to entice a few friends along to swell the audience. With a very mature sounding voice, which belied his youthful and slightly geeky (in the nicest way possible) appearance (David’s MySpace bio says he is still only 16, but there’s no note as to when it was last updated, so he could be as old as, gasp, 18…) and playing his guitar from the back, if you see what I mean, David started off with Sons And Daughters, a very mellow song that, even so, had some soaring vocals and was followed by Train Track North which had a nice catchy riff. Apparently, David’s favourite band is Stornaway and his only cover was a version of The End Of The Movie. Knowing neither the band or the song, I can’t comment on how good a cover it was but, again, he delivered it in style. Musically, Through The Sun was a much faster, lighter song and was followed by Mountain Tops and, finally, Stars which contained a lot of screeching of strings as fingers flew between the frets and was, in my opinion, the best song of a very good set from a promising new(ish) artist.

I couldn’t help but smile as Misty Miller prepared for her set by tuning her ukulele on what appeared to be an iPhone balanced on her knee, proving that there really is an “app” for everything. Continuing the theme of the evening, 16 year old Misty is self taught on an instrument that I always think has comedic overtones (perhaps solely due to George Formby), something which proved far from true tonight. Perhaps trying a little too hard to eschew what could have been a dainty image (young blonde girl playing a “miniature guitar”) by performing in holey t-shirt and designer shredded jeans and complete with nose ring, Misty proved to be a very confident and capable young lady. Soft spoken between songs, with a singing voice that, at times, sounded like a more refined version of Lily Allen and playing simply by brushing the strings with the fingernails, Misty started off with Evergreen Love, a lovely dreamy, wistful song before launching into Remember (the song that really made me think of Lily Allen) a much faster song with some really nice lyrics about growing up and unrequited love. Rail On Me was followed by Bones, introduced with a story about seeing her brother performing live and wanting to write a song that she could stamp her foot along to. It may have been a little stronger but I still wouldn’t have said there was much stamping going on. Wild Thing was followed by a cover of Why Try To Change Me Now? (originally by Cy Coleman and covered by Frank Sinatra) which she said she loves to sing but which, I’m afraid, did little for me. Born Bad was written while thinking about a place at college and was followed by Rabbits and the set was completed with Vampire which, being a love song to one of the undead was, perhaps, the song most expected from a girl of that age, despite containing some wonderful lyrics. It’s a very nice song but I’m willing to bet that Misty has read the Twilight series…

I wasn’t sure what to expect tonight but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and had a thoroughly entertaining evening.

Halloe, Is There Anybody Out There?

Monday 28th March: The last time I went to a start-of-the-week gig at Stereo, I was the only the only member of the audience not connected to any of the bands performing that night. It couldn’t happen again, could it?

“Well, this is a bit depressing.” More or less the opening words from Joe Baker (I think), guitarist and vocalist (in that order) of Halloe Away. Of course, it could have been Alex Partington, but as he is listed as “vocals and guitar”, I’m assuming the order is important and tending towards the former. The reason for the depression was that the audience for their set comprised of about eight people, including four members of the second act on the bill. Quite where the rest of the Halloe Away, as listed on the link, were tonight is anybody’s guess, but we got Alex and Joe, singing and playing guitars in a kind of folky, rocky, acoustic way and sounding, for one song anyway (I think it was called Just To Let You Know) a little like Ralph McTell. As usual, I didn’t catch all the titles but the set included a covers of songs by Cee-Lo Green and, I think, Girls Aloud(!). Of their own compositions, I quite liked the dual guitars of the third song of the set, as well as the softer, quieter Halloe Away. Yes, they have a self-titled song, and why not? Best of all was the final song of the set, which I have noted may have been called If A Sin. Overall, however, I got the impression that the boys weren’t really giving it their best shot, due to the small crowd and I can’t help but wonder what they would be like to see as a full band, complete with violin, cello and double-bass. At very least it would have been something a bit more original.

To give them their due, Joe and Alex, along with the young lady who had been watching them (one of the missing members, maybe?) did stick around to see InSpades.Inc. I had only seen them a few weeks ago, at Fibbers, and I have to say they sounded a lot better tonight. Frontman Stewart didn’t announce the first song and I don’t yet know their output well enough to recognise it with any certainty. Twenty Minutes From Now, however, is one of my favourites and it seems to sound more epic every time I hear it – tonight it sounded superb. Cannibals, written and sung by Adam Brady, tonight performing with the band for the last time, was much better served than last time out, benefitting both from better sound and a less nervous performance. Lost Track Of Time has a huge sound, again helped by the venue. The band performed all the tracks from their debut EP, joking that they didn’t have any copies with them tonight, so we couldn’t buy it. This is the second time I’ve seen the band at Stereo – the first was only their second ever gig – and they sounded so much better tonight. Once again it was a shame that a band on top form should have such a small audience watching the and, perhaps, even more of a shame that they were losing a member so early in their career. Thankfully, they ignored the lack of audience and gave a full-on performance tonight. Hopefully the band can also bounce back from Adam’s departure. Last I heard, they were advertising for a replacement guitarist and a keyboard player to complete the line-up.

Two of the reasons that the last gig I went to with such a small audience wasn’t a complete failure was that all the acts stuck around to watch each other and they all gave the same performances that they would have done for a bigger crowd. So far tonight, we’ve had one full-on performance and one that seemed a bit down-key, but the two support acts have had the good grace to watch each other. Which kind of begs the question of where were the headliners?

Well, Arthur Rigby And The Baskervylles finally put in an appearance, along with a handful of extra audience members who may (or may not) have been connected to the band, when it was their turn to take to the stage. Normally an eight-piece band, tonight they were missing the pianist and nobody seemed to know why. Still, it was quite a crowded stage and the band included quite an impressive brass and woodwind section, including James Hamilton on trumpet – yes, the same James Hamilton who plays with Hope&Social. The set started in a somehow chaotic fashion, with the brass instruments all seeming to play on top of each other and the first thing I noticed was that Benjamin’s vocals sounded more like those of Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon than whoever it was I said that about last time (Dorien Starre, I think…) The first song was, again, unannounced, but was followed by Far Far Away and then White Houses (the band’s current single) which contained a nice violin part (and you won’t hear me say that too often) from Hannah. The fourth song showcased Katie’s flute while the fifth – Ode To God (?) – contained some great lyrics and had an old-fashioned, somehow typically Yorkshire feel, thanks to the brass, which I have to say I found a bit overpowering during Here In My Arms. The more catchy Spies is the B-side of the first single and again allowed Katie to shine, this time with her saxophone. The set ended with a nicely extended Holding Hands, with another nice violin solo (blimey, I’ve said it again..) and One Stormy Night. As the set ended, Stereo’s Andy asked me what I thought and we agreed that we kind of liked the band but couldn’t really say why. They were certainly different and, like InSpades.Inc, gave a full performance, but they seemed a little reserved if not aloof and, in my opinion, didn’t really connect with the audience. The fact that they didn’t watch the other bands was, I think, a bit strange (and I can’t blame Halloe Away and most of InSpades.Inc for not sticking around to watch them). Having said that, the three bands were quite a bit different so it might just be that the others weren’t quite their “thing”. Even so…

In my opinion, only one band made the most of the circumstances tonight, which is a bit of a shame.