FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: LIVE AT THE BEDFORD

We focus today on one of my favourite things to cover - a live review. Last Tuesday found me once more in the homely surroundings of that splendid South London hub for new live music, The Bedford at Balham. It was a great pleasure to curate another evening in its hallowed Club Room with three acts whose diverse music has graced these columns previously, Silk Cinema, Frances Mistry and The Music Of Sound. With the venue’s Elizabethan theatre-like setting, expert resident sound engineer Richard Hunt at the helm and a fair-sized audience, the stage was set for three contrasting acts to complement each other’s offering, entertain and delight in equal measure.

Photo of Silk Cinema above by Kevin England

Photo of The Music of Sound by Sigita Safronova

First up was South London’s aptly named The Music of Sound, a trio led by the grassroots music champion Dr Neil March aka Trust The Doc on keyboards, electronics and backing vocals, with Ellie on flute and Sherry on lead vocals. Following a summer debut album release, Eleven Short Stories, which featured Florie Namir as vocalist before she had to step down to focus on her new born, Sherry has come in and taken both assimilating the existing repertoire and working on new songs in her stride. Opening with one of the newbies, the gentle “You Lost Out”, she hit the rising high notes with confidence and adds an attractive splintered undernote in the vocal falls.

A first live outing was next given to a brand new one, “This Longing Heart”, which had an immediacy to it aided by an earworm chorus. Hints of Cocteau Twins and mid-period Genesis came to mind as the set unfolded. Backing beats underpinned Neil’s flowing keyboard parts while Ellie’s graceful flute added a reflective and at times bucolic feel to the music. Neil’s vocal harmonies were equally on point throughout the set. Three tracks from the debut album, including “First Light” (below) followed, each displaying elements of contemporary classical music at a bridge with dream pop shadings. After a faithful cover of Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know”, The Music of Sound retreated to the hills alive with the sounds of a jauntier new track, the forthcoming single “Cold Weather Man.” All in all, a pastoral delight of a set.

Photo of Frances Mistry by Kevin England

Brighton’s Frances Mistry was next on stage, tonight performing a solo set on the back of playing some recent dates with a full band around her. Armed just with her voice and acoustic guitar which she set and reset to open tunings, the tall singer-songwriter commanded with a quiet presence, combining a bell-like vocal quality softened with nuanced inflections that lend her a beautiful individuality. Her opening song, “Live The Life I’d Never Have”, set a tone for the set with resonant strummed guitar anchoring her conversational lyrics which elevate the struggle of living and working through pain. The set mixed new material – the gentle romance of “New Hands To Hold” was next – and cuts from her two EPs to date. Frances introduced “In The Rain” as being about liking someone before realising that the picture you’ve created in your head is not real and “they are actually not very nice.” One of my favourites of hers, “Flower In The Garden” followed.

The version I’ve shared here is from a BBC Introducing South live lounge session with her band. It came across just as impactful as a live solo song as she clutched at the chances for romance, likening her struggle to make the right connections in life as “a flower in the garden with no access to sun.” Two more new songs, “Shock To My System” and “When I Look In Her Eyes” maintained the high songwriting bar on first hearing while Frances’ closing song, “Our Blood”, which as a solo song took on the feel of a lament for female victims who are not believed while male protagonists are defended. It has more of a scuzzy indie-rock vibe with the full band sound in the video below but Frances was fully able to convey her righteous frustrations armed simply with vox and guitar; a great performance which captivated tonight’s assembly.

Photo of Silk Cinema by Kevin England

The icing on tonight’s eclectic bill came from Silk Cinema, the project of ex-Paradisia siren, Kristy Wild and Raph Aletti who handles instrumentation and production on the pair’s studio work and who tonight was playing guitar. They were joined on stage by Milt on keyboards, George on bass and drummer Leonn to make up a band who look like they have been together forever, despite this being only their third live airing. Indeed, two of them were completely new to the setup. There is something about great musicians that gives the aura of everything working seamlessly with any tiny glitches going entirely over the audience’s heads. Not that I noticed any!

Photo of Silk Cinema by Sigita Safronova

Silk Cinema was smoothly into its stride with the slick “Too Many Times” from its 2022 album A Place in the Universe, an urbane song that could easily be imagined on Strictly’s Sunday evening show when the guest act has their new single danced to by the pros. It was followed by two more from the same LP – “How To Find Perfection” and “Sticking With You” both immaculate grooves which led neatly into the new single, “Frozen”, a cut-glass chilled marriage of neo-soul and funk.

The second half of the set was drawn from Silk Cinema’s 2019 debut album, Spell, which is an accurate word to describe for the effect the music was having on the audience. Influences from electro-pop, indie-R&B, jazz, funk and neo-soul meld together to create a remarkably smooth but expansive sound with clipped guitar and warm keyboard fusing perfectly, aided by crisp drums and choice bass. Over these delightful grooves, Kristy’s soulful pop-spiced vocals are the star of the show, aided by The Bedford’s exceptional sound. The set closed with “Say You'll Love Me” voicing the need for reassurance in the affairs of the heart and the audience needed no prompting to request an encore – a reprise of the opening song which you really can’t hear ‘too many times.’ A triumphant set.

You can watch the whole show back on The Bedford’s YouTube channel here, fast forwarding between sets and even avoiding those pesky announcements by your compere for the evening. Or for a faster fix, watch here now.

Top row photos by Sigita Safronova Bottom row photos by Kevin England