Hannah Dorman / Following Foxes / Martha Paton [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 29/4/14]

hannah dorman boileroom genrebomb I’ve said this many times before, I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen, and I’ll say it again: The Boileroom is my favourite independent live music venue. The same statements apply to this sentence too: Genrebomb know how to put on a show. The acts booked for this one were:

Martha Paton

Martha Paton is a professional. Her songs are great; her sound sits well in the ears; her image fits the singer-songwriter mould perfectly; her stage presence is classy and confident; and she endured the standard acoustic-set audience chattering with a heartwarming level of professional grace.

Seriously: If you’re at an acoustic gig, don’t talk over the performer. You’re not at home watching TV, and a stage is not a screen. Show some respect – and if you can’t, then don’t act surprised when those of us who give a shit about live music tell you to take your conversation outside.

Overall, what struck me first and kept me engaged was the quality of Martha Paton’s songs. If I were a publisher’s A&R scout, I’d have signed her immediately. Sadly, I’m not – but I can say that Martha Paton’s songs would be great for sync work. My best advice at this stage would be to check out this blog and buy this book.

Following Foxes

I was left in two minds about Following Foxes’ set. Their songs are well-arranged, fusing every commercially viable rock variant imaginable into a single diverse yet focussed sound. That’s an impressive creative feat, no doubt about it.

I love Following Foxes because of their songs. But their performance needs tweaking. It was tight as hell and pitch perfect – but not without assistance. Following Foxes either play to a click (fed to each member via in-ear monitors) or a complete pre-recorded track. My money’s on the latter, judging by the near-flawless vocal pitching; if I’m wrong, somebody needs to sign these guys immediately.

Don’t get me wrong – playing to a pre-recorded track is standard pop industry practice, and its use as a performance enhancer fits with Following Foxes’ status as a pop-rock band. The problem here is that those in-ear buds prevented Following Foxes from rocking out. Instead of throwing themselves into their performance and owning their stage, each member spent the set mainly inside themselves, straining to hear the feeds from their earbuds and prevent said buds from falling out. Following Foxes have created cages for themselves – but once they set themselves free (as all wild animals and rock musicians should be) it won’t be long before these guys attract the level of attention their otherwise impressive approach deserves.

Hannah Dorman

You know you’ve lived in Guildford too long when you can spot an ACM band before they’ve even played a note. For readers who’ve not heard of the ACM: The acronym stands for Academy of Contemporary Music, and it’s a rock- and pop-focussed music school. Although its graduates go on to make all kinds of music, there is a particular ‘ACM Sound’ that its students tend to adopt: A blend of soul, funk, pop, jazz, and rock that becomes instantly recognisable to former students. Listen to Jamiroquai play live, and you’ll hear the fundamentals of the ACM Sound.

Now, Jamiroquai are (to my ears) one of the best bands in the world. So it’s no surprise that I love the ACM Sound, even after several years spent studying there. Hannah Dorman’s band typify that same sound, along with the ACM Look (a group of diverse, image-conscious, and stylish individuals) and ACM Stage Presence (see Jamiroquai live again to discover the standard to which ACM students aspire). These, for me, are good things. I spent most of this set in a nostalgic haze – particularly during the cover songs, most likely cherry-picked from the ACM Performance School repertoire.

As far as performance preparation goes, Hannah Dorman’s band set a perfect example. Their drummer (who also plays with Following Foxes) played to a click, but the rest of the band clearly didn’t. This did result in a less pop-single-slick delivery, but it felt live. Free of in-ears, the standing instrumentalists were free to move about, get deep into it, and have fun – resulting in a brilliant and entertaining set.

As far as constructive criticism goes, I can’t think of anything that won’t be solved by more gigs and experience. As with Hannah Dorman’s support acts, her songs were solid – attitude-laden girl pop à la Gabriella Cilmi & co. – and her covers were well chosen. My only mention-worthy issue is that the set ended with a cover (Maroon 5’s Harder to Breathe) rather than the title track of the EP for which this gig was the launch party (see below for its video). Although Harder to Breathe was most likely chosen to end on a high-energy note, cutting it from the set and ending on Do You Wanna Play would have shown more confidence in the strength of Hannah Dorman’s songwriting.

Overall: A quality set delivered with obvious passion, and my favourite performance of the night.

As usual, much love to Paul & Duncan at Genrebomb, as well as the Boileroom team, for still another awesome show.

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