It’s no secret that the music industry is currently in love the female singer/songwriter with a bit of attitude. Amy kicked it all off a few years back then suddenly the flood gates were opened. Duffy and Adele followed, they were joined by the likes of Paloma, Florence & Rox and the list keeps growing.So next for your listening pleasure we give you Tara London, a vocalist who, like most of the aforementioned artists, has a retro style, both in music and image.
Tara has been performing on the live circuit over the last few years and gradually building herself a fan-base, as well as winning the odd award along the way. With a debut album ‘FairyTales & Stepping Stones’ soon to be released, it’s a good time to find out with what she’s all about.
I caught her live at the amazing surroundings of Proud, the converted 200-year-old Grade II Listed Horse Hospital in the Stables Market, Camden.
Over the last few years, the venue has played host to the very best live music - Peter Doherty, Dizzee Rascal, The Kooks, Stereophonics, VV Brown and more have all have played intimate sets here. The bar has developed a cult following and become a celebrity hang-out, with regulars including Miss Winehouse, Sadie Frost, Carl Barat and The Arctic Monkeys.
As her band takes to the stage you may be forgiven for thinking you are about to see a tribute to The Commitments, such is the diversity of the members of her band, however Tara soon joins them, complete with vintage attire, and everything falls into place.
Kicking off her show with “Just For Tonight”, it’s clear that the she is a competent performer who can certainly hold her own in the ever increasing arena of female talent. The beautiful “Chasing Rainbows” follows and you can see why Tara has drawn comparisons with the likes of Duffy. She has a voice which lends itself nicely to current pop sensibilities as well as elements of classic jazz and blues.
A couple of well chosen covers are thrown into the set, a ‘Faith’ful version of Paloma’s “My Legs Are Weak” and later, the Noisettes “Never Forget You” help gets the crowd livened up.
Other tracks of note during the set are the heartfelt ‘Beautiful Lie’, written specially for the charity ACT (http://www.againstchildtrafficking.org) and tackling the issues it raises, and the tender ‘Bitter Sweet’ on which she gets to show off her range to it’s full ability.
Of course nothing is perfect; there is still a little work that needs to be done to tighten the whole act up a bit and there are a few songs that don’t necessarily work as well live, but this is something that can only improve over time.
The highlight of her live show is saved ‘til last. ‘No Place To Go’ is the perfect sing-a-long track with it’s call and response lines of “I say ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah’, you say ‘No, no, no, no, no’”, which keeps ringing in your head long after the band have packed up and headed home.
To use a bit of a cliché, it's clear Tara London is definitely "one to watch", an artist with just the right mixture of a modern but classic sound. With a bit of luck you’ll be hearing more of her soon.
Full set list
Just For Tonight
Chasing Rainbows
My Legs Are Weak
You & I
Beautiful Lie
Never Forget You
Call On Me
Bed Of Lies
You Fall Down
Bitter Sweet
No Place To Go
For more info on Tara London check out her website taralondonmusic.co.uk
Or find her on Twitter , Facebook or MySpace
No comments:
Post a Comment