In the upstairs room of The Louisiana Only Girl and her band quietly take to the stage and prepare themselves. Hailing from London, this is her first gig in Bristol and the prospect of a foreign crowd seems to rattled her nerves ever so slightly.
The lineup consists of guitar, drums, keyboards and Only Girl herself taking centre stage on vocals. Her diminutive form softly announces that the first track is called ‘Heights’, and seemingly from nowhere, a huge, soulful voice emanates from her, laying down a strong melody over a fun, upbeat dance tune which is driven by a catchy piano hook. Any indication of nerves is long gone and the bands infectious enthusiasm permeates the crowd, having the audience dancing along from the outset.
The next song, ‘Crave’, delivers more of the same with an amazing backup vocal performance delivered by keys player Ria Moran. The two vocal lines complimenting each other perfectly, the song weaves into an exciting middle 8/bridge part which is accented by a filthily crunchy lead guitar. By now the room has filled and the band get ‘Bittersweet’ underway which is taken from their upcoming EP, this is quickly followed by ‘Mountain’ the title track of the aforementioned EP.
Only Girl are delivering massive tunes that will make you think back to the epic soul ballads of the nineties, except there is nothing dated to their sound. Bang up to date but proudly wearing their influences on their sleeves; they are a refreshing oasis in the current musical landscape.
'Stone' is a love song which comes and goes quickly, underpinned by recorded birdsong. (Only Girl explains that they were recorded live in her garden while between songs)
Following the acoustic ‘Fly’, they launch into ‘Feel It’ which is another big uptempo dance number. This, along with ‘Heights’ are the highlights of the, to be honest faultless, setlist.
Ending with ‘Fortune’, Only Girl have come to Bristol, delivered what they know best and left a packed, dancing audience extremely happy. Before they leave the stage, Only Girl tells us that they’ll be playing Bristol again. Bristol, I’m sure, looks forward to it.
You can follow Only Girl at the following:
This article is soon to be available at www.native.fm
Comments
Post a Comment