| Gerry Farrow / Music Blog |  | | Review of Northern Quarter gig by www.soundawesome.com | Northern Quarter at The Hand & Heart, Nottingham, 4 November 2008
Wednesday October 29th 2008
The Hand & Heart have a regular Wednesday Accoustic Night but neither Northern Quarter, nor I, had been there before. The venue is upstairs and more like a large lounge than a typical Pub Stage. Luxurious easy chairs,
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Wednesday October 29th 2008
The Hand & Heart have a regular Wednesday Accoustic Night but neither Northern Quarter, nor I, had been there before. The venue is upstairs and more like a large lounge than a typical Pub Stage. Luxurious easy chairs, low tables and a glass roof make this an ideal location for small groups enjoying some of the incredible talent to be found.
One example of incredible talent, is Northern Quarter; a five-piece (plus sound man) accoustic band with quite a following in and around Nottingham. I was priveleged to be asked to pop along to hear them play live. I am so grateful that my pre-booked acquaintence was understanding and let me off - better still, he came with me.
Starting with 'Time On My Mind', Northern Quarter kicked off a session that will be with me for a long time. The track itself is somewhat reminiscient of Beautiful South, although you could never actually mistake the two bands. After 'Dreamers Dreamers' they played the gorgeous, haunting 'Tonight'- a song that a friend of mine openly admits, makes her cry - it's that beautiful. Vicky and Gerry harmonise really well; their voices seem to be made for each other, and the songs themselves are, each one, an emotional experience.
The band is much more than Gerry and Vicky - they are more than competently accompanied, with Eddy playing some really neat guitar, backed by Matt playing bass, lending depth to the overall sound and Brian - who played what looked like a tiny box, upon which he sat, banging it with his hands like a drum. But what a box. It's a Cajon, an amazing piece of kit. It would take too long to describe it (look it up) but it sounded at times like a full drum kit - snares and all.
All together, Northern Quarter played 11 songs to delight us, taken from both of their albums and at least a couple of new ones destined, I assume, to become part of their imminent third. It's hard to pick out individual tracks in limited space, but 'Enough' beautifully showed off Vicky's range, 'Love', soft and gentle, 'A little Bit Lost', foot-tapping fun and 'It's Only Me', a bit Mick Hucknall-esque were only a part of an altogether excellent evening.
As far as appointing a genre to Northern Quarter, they are hard to pin down. Just when you've ascertained that they're a folk band with their stong accoustic sound, it blends into melodic folk rock and then they surprise you again with counterpoints that bring The Waterboys to mind. But despite these influences, real or circumstantial, Northern Quarter have their own sound and it's one to which you should just sit back, listen, and enjoy.
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