The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Smoke Fairies at Rough Trade East

Smoke Fairies at Rough Trade East | Live review
16 April 2014
Lorenzo Cibrario
Avatar
Lorenzo Cibrario
16 April 2014

British blues-folk duo Smoke Fairies have notable and famous fans: among others, Brian Ferry, Jack White and Richard Hawley. This is probably down to their charming bluesy folk, which is still juvenile and naïve, but with several elements that confirm our high hopes.

Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies have travelled all over the world, from England to New Orleans, in order to understand the roots of the blues, and to learn how to match it with British folk. The result is the Smoke Fairies project, under which they have just released a fourth self-titled record. Trained by a powerful single like Eclipse Them All, a spacey soundtrack à la Air with some smokey delta blues reflections, the record showcases several aspects of the band: the naïvety and the coolness, and songs like Let Me Know, Blood Speaks, Summer Fades and the killer Hotel Room.

On stage the girls are matched by three expert musicians – drummer, fiddler/synth and bass players – while they play their guitars for about 30 minutes. The songs of the record of course onstage become more rocky and aggressive, emphasising the guitars and the rhythm sections, showing how the band are familiar with their instruments. The sound of the performance touches many genre, the boundary between blues, pop and psych but with a twist of folk that makes everything more British than American.

Curiously, the audience at the venue were older than what we think of as the average age, probably due to the reference of this duo from Sussex, who are more sophisticated – think PJ Harvey and Creedence Clearwater Revival – than others. The formula is winning: let’s see where these girls will end up with the next record.

Lorenzo Cibrario
Photo: Lorenzo Cibrario

For further information and future events visit Smoke Fairies’ website here.

Watch the video for Eclipse Them All here:

Related Itemsconcertlive musicreviewsmoke fairies

More in Live music

The Amazons launch How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? at Live Nation

Bev Lung
Read More

Warpaint at the Roundhouse

★★★★★
Jasper Watkins
Read More

Paolo Nutini at the 100 Club

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Viagra Boys at the Forum

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Tool at the O2 Arena

★★★★★
Peter Chow
Read More

Twin Atlantic at the Roundhouse

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

Metronomy at Alexandra Palace

★★★★★
Diletta Lobuono
Read More

Larkin Poe at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

★★★★★
Bev Lung
Read More

Tom Meighan at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in pictures

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Albert Adrià reopens Enigma on 7 June as a “fun-dining” restaurant and cocktail bar
    Food & Drinks
  • The Road Dance
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Paolo Nutini at the 100 Club
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Crimes of the Future: Three new clips from David Cronenberg’s dystopian body horror film
    Cannes
  • The Innocents
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Marcel!
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • More than Ever (Plus que Jamais)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Enys Men
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • The Stranger
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • More than Ever (Plus que Jamais)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Plan 75
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
  • Dirty Dancing the Movie in concert at Apollo Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic at the British Museum
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Eo (Hi-Han)
    ★★★★★
    Cannes
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Good People at the Noel Coward Theatre | Theatre review
Joan as Policewoman at Village Underground | Live review