I was particularly looking forward to this gig at The Big Difference in Leicester (formerly The Cookie) on Monday night - it was an event which was meant to have happened in March, towards the end of William The Conqueror's UK tour. Unfortunately, that date and some subsequent ones had to be postponed due to - yes you guessed it - Covid.
But the new date soon rolled round, and I arrived early to make sure I heard Chloe Foy. She's someone I've listened to at various points over the years, revelling in the beautiful, meditative, country-inflected folk melodies she writes. Her debut single was released in 2013, and since then she's been developing her style and repertoire. To me, it feels like she's pretty much perfected it.
Her set was short but definitely sweet, featuring a carefully curated selection of songs. She was accompanied by Harry Fausing Smith, delicately and unobtrusively picking out subtle notes and harmonics on his electric guitar.
Everything felt thoughtful, and thought-provoking; performed with a lovely sincere and laid-back warmth. What also struck me was her careful editing. She could have chosen to string out some of her songs; to lengthen them and increase that sense of reflection which you often get in the folk, or folk-derived, genre. But - refreshingly - Chloe clearly takes great care to craft her songs with love, stripping out anything unnecessary and reducing them to their essence and core. This makes each one absolutely captivating and indicates real maturity in the artist. Listening to Chloe Foy feels like you're being presented with exquisite slices of poetic musing, evoking something timeless and pastoral, but with a definite sense of viewing that poetry through a modern lens. There are also some unexpected harmonies and melodic turns in there, which elevate the songs still further.
'Where Shall We Begin' was in fact where she begun - the title track from her recent debut album of the same name. It's a deceptively simple song, quite stark, but enriched with an underlying and encouraging warmth, and this beckons you in to the music.
I loved 'Work of Art' and 'Evangeline' too (also from the album), as well as a new song about the dreaded pandemic whose title I didn't catch (sorry - Chloe let me know, if you read this!)
Her last number was 'Closer', which Chloe performed standing alone at the microphone - no guitar - accompanying the singing only with illustrative hand actions, and ending with spoken words. It was a real thing of beauty.
After a short reset of the tiny brick-backed, basement stage, William The Conqueror arrived. Ruarri Joseph, the man behind the name, strolled through the crowd wearing a backpack, and calmly unpacked a notebook and some other bits and pieces while bassist Naomi Holmes and drummer Harry Harding took their places.
"Are we OK to start?" he commented genially, before launching into a tight set, which brilliantly showcased the band's exciting and approachable style and Ruari's down-to-Earth, witty and downright clever song-writing. The band have been around for about 5 or 6 years (Ruarri got them together after about a decade of performing solo) and they gel very well, coming across a a great group of people who were obviously meant to be together, doing their thing on a stage.
Here they are playing the 'The Deep End' - wow, that song is catchy, built around some gorgeously mellow rocky riffs and underlaid with a pushy feel, which Harry brought out in his drumming. And now, 'Move On' - I wrote about this song in the pretty early days of this blog, commenting on the effectiveness of the 6/8 timing, the lovely 8-bar build, and Ruari's rich, mellow vocals.
WTC are a band who you just know will sound great live. There's something in the quality of the recorded songs which tells you that - an honesty and true musicianship which can't be faked. And listening to Ruari perform, you quickly realise that this is someone who has a highly refined skill with words. "Where the gulls and the dreams live off the bread", he sings in 'Move On'. And in 'Wake Up', "Your face is familiar, your pain not so".
It makes sense, then, that Ruari has written a book - which he plugged mercilessly, but charmingly and with warm wit, throughout the gig (yep, I bought a copy).
I could highlight every song on the set list, but have to keep this post short (for time reasons only). But I will mention 'Shots Fired' which I think is a new song: it got into an infectious groove, and the band played with such full, ardent effort. And also a shout out to the more laid-back, defiantly bluesy but no less passionate 'Alive at Last'.
'Quiet Life' is about Ruarri's mother (I hadn't realised that before). It's honest, open and touching - and the way it was delivered by WTC demonstrated their skills: the ability to stay restrained and measured where needed. Another album track 'Wake Up' was delivered passionately, with its cynical sounding refrain, "You should be famous, you should be in the papers, without your make up".
I also loved how clearly Ruarri presented us with 'Jesus Died A Young Man': that song came through a lot more strongly live than on the album. You could see the narrative taking shape in front of you as the band performed.
I suppose it was a tiny bit of a shame that there was no piano or other instrumentation involved on the night - some of the songs on WTC's most recent album 'Maverick Album' include those elements and are enhanced by them. But I've got no complaints - the band produced a lovely rich, full sound and were clearly having a lot of fun doing it. Naomi's bass and vocal harmonies were spot on throughout, and Harry's firmly accurate drumming held everything together and kept up the momentum from start to end.
Listen below, and catch them live if you can.
Date of gig: 13 June 2022