My Grey Horse at The Village Underground

Statford-upon-Avon is the city from which My Grey Horse started their musical career. Three brothers make the line up: Peter, John and Oobah Butler, joined by Joe Nicklin and Tom Mott to make the magic happen. Strapping on their guitars surrounded by the brick-clad, high-ceilinged walls that makes The Village Underground, the atmosphere is almost like that of mass, where My Grey Horse is the vicar preparing to preach to the parish. They robe the stage well with their presence and even though they are the warm-up act for two other bands they have gathered a decent audience.

We have all had our fair share of folk-inspired pop over the past few years, and My Grey Horse are no exception from bands trying out this genre. Their melodic tunes are in no way impersonal, though, even though the generic banjo pops out for a song or two. Sometimes the guitar-based songs remind of a less explosive Dry the River mixed with a soft Mumford & Sons. Somehow the long-haired boys seem so very sweet and quite hip at the same time.

Pete, vocals, repeatedly chants “I still don’t understand” in the last song of the set, the lead song from their debut album, coming out later this month. Singing these words, he manages to unpack and hand out a special kind of feeling that in warm-up gigs is normally chucked in a box, hidden somewhere backstage for the headliner to deliver. It is a piece of his soul he glimmers for the audience, and if he could only show that flickering piece of passion a few more times during the set the gig would be on a completely different level. The vocals may be lacking in perfection at times, but what difference does that make when the presence, warmth and song-writing is all in place? 

Johanna Eliasson

For further information and future events visit My Grey Horse’s website here.

Watch the video for Days Shall Follow here: