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Kathryn Williams

Venue: Shipley Art Gallery
Town: Gateshead
Date: 24/6/14
Website: http://kathrynwilliams.co.uk

Having first seen her performance at the previous Journal Culture Awards, it was time to revisit this Liverpool born now Newcastle based musician Kathryn Williams at The Shipley Arts Gallery.

This was the first time I had been to the venue and it was the perfect setting for Williams to perform tracks from her album Crown Electric and other previous records.

Performing in front of a beautiful backdrop that appeared to be a renaissance painting it just set the scene to a perfect night of folk and indie music.

Kathryn Williams was accompanied by her guitar player and bass player that did a great job of creating a homely atmosphere in a wide opened space such as a gallery, yes this gallery may have been an overwhelming performance space for the audience but Williams and her band managed to create this intimate feel to the gig.

As to opposing her previous performance I had seen her in, Williams let her hair down and we were able to see a more relaxed version of her. As she would tell jokes in between songs or ask if we were okay, truly looking after her audience she dedicated a song to us that was written for a character in a book written by Slyvia Plath. I had never heard that before and according to Williams it has not been released yet, acting as a sort of guinea pig to the song everyone appeared to enjoy that song.

Kathryn Williams is well known for her song writing abilities and this was showcased in her song of Little Black Lines, this song is lyrically and musically brilliant. It has so many layers to it that you are almost following the melody as a musical map, it takes you on twists and turns of emotions and images as a listener it is fascinating. It may have an odd story to it but the song is rather catchy that I still find myself listening to it as I write.

Around the gallery were a number of statues that were situated around the performance space that Kathryn Williams was standing in and it was rather eerie and haunting, yet quite apt to the tour as she played one of my personal favourites Heart Shaped Stone. It was such an uplifting song, although I had heard it performed live before, it sounded better tonight and I swear I saw some of those stone figures smile.

At the end of the performance she sang a cover version of a song written by a certain Mr Bruce Springsteen, truly making it her own it was the perfect finale to her gig and as the instruments were put down and the lights were switched off everybody was still dancing in the dark.

Gemma Hirst