Don’t bother looking in the diaries for this double bill
show as it only existed in the world of two people. Due to the close proximity
of the Kitchen Garden Café and the Hare and Hounds, it was always on the cards
that the venues would be combined one evening and the opportunity finally
presented itself. The main feature of the night was Treetop Flyers returning to
Birmingham to promote their new album and it was initially unfortunate that
this clashed with Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards playing the city on the
same evening. However a touch of good fortune appeared when it was announced
that Treetop Flyers would hit the Hare and Hounds stage at 9:45 and Laura’s
first fifty minute set would end around 9:30. Hence a super gig evolved out of
two venues barely twenty yards apart.
First of all apologies to Laura and her musical companions
for not returning to see their second set after the break. However enough was
seen in the first half to give the four piece band, assembled from right across
the North American continent, a hearty plug in this write up. Laura was no
stranger to this part of Kings Heath having played the Hare and Hounds with
Session Americana only last October. This time the set up was wholly different
as she fronted a quartet of two fiddles, cello and a double bass. Laura was
paired in the fiddle department with Jenna Moynihan, leaving cellist Valerie Thompson
and Winnipeg native Natalie Bohrn on bass to complete the band. From such an
acoustic base the sound unsurprisingly had a folk and roots feel to it,
although a contemporary twist was woven into the music. The set played to a
responsive Kitchen Garden Café gathering was a mix of brand new material,
traditional fiddle tunes and an opening instrument free song sprinkled with
sparkling harmonies. Whilst being far from your usual acoustic roots combo, Laura
Cortese and the Dance Cards came across as a zestful group of talented
performers joining a lengthy list of traditional musicians confident enough to
take their accomplished brand of music far and wide.
The trip from the London area to Birmingham was not exactly in
the transatlantic realms for Reid Morrison and his merry bunch of Treetop
Flyers. This five piece band on the Loose Music label have been racking up the
exalted reviews for their brand new album PALAMINO and this headline show at
the Hare and Hounds was the first extended chance for Midlands based fans to
listen to most of the material live. The guys made a fleeting visit to the city
last autumn to play a low key gig at the Sunflower Lounge and are due to return
this September for a prestigious slot at the Moseley Folk Festival. This
interim city gig was a headline scheduling preceded by three support artists, and
perhaps one will never know how these acts would have matched up to Laura
Cortese. One thing for certain is that Treetop Flyers were in blistering form
as soon as they hit the stage and for an hour and a quarter they showed why
they are being rated so highly on the live circuit.
A few teething problems with the sound did surface during
the set, although the band masked the bulk of these in their ability to craft
an abundance of wonderful guitar and keyboard based tunes. Pinpointing the
sound of Treetop Flyers is a tough task especially if you want to avoid West Coast
Americana clichés. Similarly labelling them an indie/alt-country hybrid is
being too simplistic, so just leave it that they are one hell of a finely tuned
rock ‘n’ roll band, rich in a plethora of mind splitting extended musical
interludes. Of course it helps to have a front person so passionately involved
in each song and Reid Morrison is such an intense performer that he hypnotises
you with a well-stocked pile of excellent Treetop Flyers songs.
Having been sold on their live performance last time and
ensuring PALOMINO has been on perpetual rotation since its release, tonight was
the crowning interaction with the band, all witnessed from just a few paces
away. Watching every ounce of emotion emanate from Reid’s face as he poured out
‘St. Andrew’s Day’ was inspirational.
Likewise witnessing Sam Beer alternate between keys and lead guitar amidst
contributing to loads of stunning tunes was worth the admission price ten-fold.
The major candidate for set highlight was the scintillating ten-minute
pre-encore version of ‘Dance Through the
Night’. Although on ‘any given Sunday’, it could have been run close by ’31 Years’, ‘Sleepless Nights’, 'Wild Winds' and ‘You Darling You’. In truth you can pick
any of the tracks from the new record and it has certainly been worth the wait
since the previous release in 2013, and the band’s subsequent re-appraisal.
www.treetopflyers.co.uk
