The Kenlis Arms, which is the venue for Garstang Unplugged, seems to be gaining a reputation as a place worth
playing on the UK folk scene. According to Miranda Sykes she heard
about it from Philip Henry and Hannah Martin who played to a sell-out
crowd there last year. I don't know if it was quite a sell-out last
night but there was certainly a good crowd in to see Miranda and Rex
Preston.
Support came from young
singer songwriter Hayley Collins who played us about half a dozen of
her own compositions on the piano including a couple from her
Forbidden Fruit EP. One song was described by her as being about the
difficult transition from youth to adulthood. As she put it, she's “a
bit crap at being an adult,” but she is far from being rubbish on
the piano, her style having similarities to Amanda Palmer's keyboard
playing in Dresden Dolls and to Daisy Chapman.
Unlike at other venues,
there was quite a short gap between the support and the main act. No
sooner had Hayley's piano been removed than Miranda and Rex took to
the stage. I've seen some footage of them on YouTube with both of
them very smartly turned out but Rex was very casually dressed at the
Kenlis Arms - perhaps his waistcoat was at the dry cleaners. So they
made quite a visual contrast with Miranda smartly dressed while Rex
was in jeans with a scarf tied round his neck. Not that this mattered
as their musical abilities were well matched with Miranda on her
double bass for most of the gig and Rex alternating between mandolin
and bouzouki.
In her introduction to
the Kate Rusby song 'Old Man Time', Miranda told us about her early
days – she started playing bass at the age of eight – and how she
found this track on one of her parents' records. This was one of a
number of songs written by others which they played, with the name
Boo Hewerdine getting a couple of mentions. He contributed two songs
to their last album, 'Windowbox' and 'Me and My Sister The Moon',
both of which we heard last night.
We were also treated to
a number of new songs from their third album which they have titled
“Swan Song”. Despite the title, they are not planning on
splitting up any time soon which is just as well as they are quite
possibly the only double bass and mandolin duo around and are both
very proficient players. Miranda has a beautiful voice which you
don't really appreciate when she tours with Show of Hands. Talking of
whom, she said she hopes to have copies of the new album to sell on
the Show of Hands autumn tour.
From the new material
played at Garstang I'd say their third album will be worth the wait.
They make a very happy looking duo on stage with Miranda having a
smile on her face most of the time and there was an amusing incident
at the start of their second set. The compere had lowered Rex's
microphone to do the mid-set raffle and during their first song after
the break Miranda tried to raise the height of the mic by flicking it
upwards. There was a certain phallic look to it which caused much
laughter both on stage and in the audience.
Other highlights
included the Nina Simone classic 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To
Be Free', 'Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight' and 'Sweet Pea/Mean To
Me', the latter featuring Miranda on ukulele, which closed their most
enjoyable set. And for fans of Philip Henry and Hannah Martin you'll
be please to hear that they are returning to Garstang Unplugged in
September. I'd advise you to book early!
