Reviews
Artist:Alex Roberts + Donna Fullman
Venue:Bournemouth Folk Club
Town:Bournemouth
Date:05/10/08
Website:http://www.bournemouthfolkclub.com/
Donna Fullman had travelled down from Brighton to make her Bournemouth Folk Club debut, a journey from one south coast seaside town to another. Something that Donna reflected on in her first song which she described as being inspired by the beach and sea at Brighton, but that everyone in Bournemouth would relate to.
Donna was performing tonight as part of her trio set up, Nelson Day(guitar) and Marianne Hillier-Brook(percussion) completing the combo, though she does perform with a bigger band on occasions.
The set was in anticipation of her EP launch back in her native Brighton later in the week, but unfortunately there were no sneaky previews available for the audience, which is a shame as I think they would have sold well.
Part of me was instantly reminded of late sixties early seventies outfit, The Trees, not only for the sound, but also the almost distracted way Donna delivers her vocal. It gives them an almost otherworldly feel, quirky almost, think Mazzy Star with an English accent.
The start of the set seemed to be a bit tentative, maybe it was the size of the audience, the club was packed, or just feeling her way into a new venue, whatever the reason, it took most of the first number for you to feel that she had relaxed enough to do her songs justice, but having found her zone, she moved effortlessly through it for the rest of the set.
The songs are quite word lead, repetition giving the songs a natural rhythm, ably supported by the subtle touches from Hillier-Brook's delicate percussion. Some songs need just enough backing. Too much and it distracts from the delicate structure of the song, not enough and you feel the words have been left to hang.
Nelson Day seems to have picked up the skill well, his golden rule seemed to be keep it simple and drop in flourishes only when necessary, it's exactly what Donna's songs need, looking forward to the EP.
Alex Roberts is a local singer/songwriter/guitarist whose star seems to be very much on the ascendant, thanks to a couple of well received albums and a summer pounding away on the damp highways and byways playing a frantic festival season and touring schedule, still he's playing the Barbados Music Festival in mid to late October so at least he'll get to find some sun."
The downside of an artist becoming more successful is that the locals get to see less of them, which gave Alex Robert's headlining set at Bournemouth Folk Club very much a welcome back to the hometown feel.
It's always good to see an array of guitars surrounding a singer/songwriter up on stage on their own. You know that it means you're going to get more bang for your buck, especially when it's a guitar player of the quality of Alex Roberts and with a real love of different tunings.
Alex also plays his guitars in different ways, lap, picking, strumming, whatever the tune needs, it's like having bespoke guitar. The reason for this is that Alex drifts across the genres, blues, folk, gospel, a little bit of soul. He doesn't feel constrained by type, if a song is going to sound better as a gospel song, a gospel song it's going to be. He doesn't feel the need to bend the song into the sound.
Similarly, he doesn't feel the need to add words if a tune doesn't need them, he's content for the guitar to do the talking. In fact one of the most powerful songs of the night, "The Beachy Head Chimes" was an instrumental blues number.
Alex comes across as a man that doesn't really enjoy the between song banter, you get the feeling that he really wants to absorb himself in the music, but at the same time wants to tell you about the songs and the circumstances of their birth. It's not without humour, but it's the only time on stage he doesn't look at ease.
It's as though he knows each song has a moment and he wants to make that moment right. "Insolvency Road" was originally written about gold miners and their forced dependency of the mine owner and the debt he took them into, a situation not unfamiliar with the current climate.
Alex Robert's puts his whole self into his performance, no pretentious airs, just honest to goodness delivery. The resulting impact on the audience is stunning. Many artists close their eyes when they perform, Robert's audience seem to do the same thing in order to absorb the song so much better only to snap out of it and instantaneously applause when it reaches it's climax.
Even without Alex mentioning it, you can tell by the feel of a couple of songs that he's a fan of Leonard Cohen, one of his favourite songs is "Hallelujah", now up to an incredible eighty verses, Roberts played his own song "81st Verse" in tribute to that.
As his set reached it's conclusion, or what he thought was it's conclusion, you could just feel the energy in the room. Alex's blues/gospel/folk/country seems to have a very cathartic feel to it, it seems to energise it's environment, despite the occasional dark nature of some of his songs.
I guess in my enthusiasm for the performance, I've sort of overlooked his worksmithying. Alex is one of those writers that can conceptualize the big issues into song as well as the small ones, the songs can be personal or global, but always easy to relate to.
As I said he thought he'd finished, he doesn't normally play encores, he's not into that go off, comeback routine. Tonight was an exception, the audience wanted more and as Dan and Monique of Tinderbox fame were in the audience, just back from their honeymoon, he dedicated a Tom Waites number to them as he played just one more.
Alex Roberts pictures courtesy of Tina Barnes
Donna Fullman pictures courtesy of Ajit Dutta