The Orielles Can’t Keep Their Fans in a Tableau

Written by Arlo Taylor Osmond
Edited by Eve Moat

After 6 weeks on the road, The Orielles came home to Yorkshire for a cosy, intimate show at Brudenell Social Club that concluded their UK and EU tour. The experimental, genre-bending sounds of the Halifax trio evoked stank faces and swaying heads across the crowd for a blissful hour, delivering a mixture of psychedelic pop, post-disco punk and all their other sounds that elude categorisation.

The Yorkshire band have been gaining greater recognition from avant-garde fans worldwide since the release of their third full-length album, Tableau, in October 2022. They’ve achieved a great deal since their first gig at Brudenell on 28th October 2017, and they enter with an ease and a confidence that is aware of that. Sidonie B Hand-Halford settles into her drumkit as her sister, Esmé Dee Hand-Halford, picks up her bass guitar. The pair are followed by their fellow band member Henry Carlyle Wade, who immediately demonstrates his talent as a guitarist with some deep, moody strums as we’re immersed into the gloomy atmosphere of ‘To Offer, To Erase’. 

Halfway through the tune, Sidonie B’s drumsticks take centre stage in a complex crashing of high hats and bass drums. However, her expertise are displayed better in the fast pace of ‘The Room’, next up on the set list. During this tune, I was enthralled by the interesting dynamic between Henry and Esme. Henry’s electric, energetic jamming in this dance track is satisfyingly balanced by the slick nonchalance of Esme’s playing. They have two different styles that each, in their own way, serve a function for the band and appealed to different members of the crowd. 

Although the music of The Orielles is admiringly versatile, one consistency is their love for a tempo change in the middle of a song. This technique reaches new heights when seen live, carrying the audience to different emotions so quickly and with so much authority. Their performance of ‘Beam/s’ was a brilliant example of this. Audience members are raised from melancholic and dreamy shoegaze to a lively, upbeat grungy sound, before being lassoed right back to the former. This time, there are cinematic sounds of a violin that accompany Esme’s velvety vocals.

‘Television’ played with my emotions in the same way. Midway through the song, Sidonie B puts her heart and soul into a cathartic, chaotic crescendo on the drums that is heightened by a powerfully intense looping of Esme’s chorus. The band members suddenly change pace and style, without any visible difficulty, and seamlessly plunge the audience into a slow, uplifting environment of indie pop. Each masterful switch executed by The Orielles is accompanied by screams from the audience, who clearly enjoy being kept on their feet.

While it doesn’t appear to be their main priority, the band’s talent for weaving stories with words as well as instruments was shown in the moving, stripped down performance of ‘Stones’. Anchored by an acoustic guitar, it’s a confusing yet beguiling story that reflects the sisters’ alternative status as filmmakers (La Vita Olistica, 2020). 

After hearing most of Tableau, the crowd recognises an old favourite from its first few guitar notes. Shrieks ensue for ‘Sugar Tastes Like Salt’, their fourth ever release. At the song’s break, cheeky grins appear on the band members’ faces as people start to move fast, limbs flying with the funk of the bass. Hearing this tune after hearing Tableau is eye-opening though. Upon close listening, one can hear twinkles of innovation and even hints at a dissatisfaction with traditional song structure. Having hosted The Orielles multiple times since 2017, Brudenell has seen these twinkles develop into mature, brave, sophisticated ideas. It’s a pleasure to experience part of that journey.

The performance makes me wonder how such a talented, ambitious band can be so free from pretension. After a viciously creative performance of songs that make you question the very existence of genres, Henry concludes the show by saying “Thanks a lot chickens”, followed by a homely “Yorkshire” chant with the audience. 

“We should do this more often” says Henry, with a charming grin on his face.

Tableau by The Orielles is available on all streaming platforms.

Julie Byrne and her Support Acts Burn Down Brude with their Melodies

Written by Kate Wassell
Edited by Eve Moat

It’s been six years since Julie Byrne last played at Leeds’ beloved Brudenell Social Club, and on Thursday 16th November the venue welcomed her back with warm arms and eager ears. Kicking off their first gig of the tour, the esteemed American folk artist was joined by British experimental pop singer Mui Zyu – the two of them alluring a quietly appreciative and contemplative crowd, with warm smatterings of applause between tracks. 

Image Credit: Kate Wassell

Support act Eva Liu works under the stage name of Mui Zyu, her Cantonese name – a nod to her diasporic identity that is an integral part of her music and most recent project, Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century. Zyu’s sound flits between tender and distorted; together she and her collaborator Lucci create a cosmic sonic landscape, merging and layering beats, synths and electric guitar. Zyu’s lyrics often explore this unwinding and rewinding of a cultural identity: she tells the audience that much of the new album arose from this “trying and failing” to make sense of both her British and Hong Kong culture together. 

Image Credit: Kate Wassell

She also notes how grateful she is to be there supporting Julie Byrne: “I’ve had the new album [The Greater Wings] on repeat, as I’m sure you all have too”. Soon enough Julie Byrne graces the stage (she really does embody the word graceful) with a calming and steady presence alongside her two bandmates. Violinist Jake Flavy beautifully offsets her baritone vocals with heartbreaking, lingering string. Julie, meanwhile, might have the most perfect live voices I’ve ever heard; it’s pretty close to flawless. 

Julie has a sense of sincerity, and also something definitely spiritual about her, which elevates her live performance to an almost religious atmosphere. There is a sanctity surrounding her; her hands are never still, moving along with the music when she isn’t holding her guitar, as if she is always feeling the music move through her body. When you listen her lyrics, it’s clear she is somebody grounded by the natural world, guided by nature rather than shadowed by it. 

About halfway through the set Byrne plays the opening track of her 2023 album of the same name, ‘The Greater Wings’. It is the highlight of the night for me, the track is haunting and transcendental, and they play it without a fault. The songwriter later explains the origination of the title: it comes from the small sphenoid bone, she tells us, that sits just behind our temples. The shape of it is like a butterfly, or “some otherworldly moth” as Byrne puts it, with two smaller wings and two greater wings. She doesn’t elaborate further except to express her finding this fact beautiful, but it seems as if the lyrics of the track are at least in part a homage to her late collaborator, partner and best friend, Eric Littman. “To carry you up”, she sings, “on greater wings”, is to keep him in her memory, to lift him up beyond it. 

The wings, to me, also seem to symbolise Julie’s constant wandering: she is somebody who has never had that permanent sense of home through her life. The pandemic put a halt on movement, but Byrne kept composing; in fact, she began working on The Greater Wings in 2018 and began recording it in 2020. It adds up that she would be the kind of artist to take her time with an album release – to reflect and build it up over time.

The last time Julie was in Leeds she was touring the 2017 album Not Even Happiness. While she still plays homage to a few of her favoured old tracks throughout the evening, her new songs stand out in her live performance. There’s a new clarity and complexity to her most recent songwriting. She follows ‘The Greater Wings’ with a new track ‘22’, from an EP set to be released the following day after her Brudenell performance, in a trio release with Taryn Blake Miller and Emily Fontana, which along with three new songs includes a cover of Jackson Browne’s ‘These Days’. It’s a short but beautiful hint at the new release, with Byrne’s voice being so soft and captivating. 

My only wish was that Julie’s set had lasted a little longer: it was short but sweet. Julie Byrne has the kind of radiance to her smile and her being that makes her a real pleasure to watch perform. I’d recommend anyone to catch one of her live shows, not just for her gorgeous melodies and lyricism but for her enchanting presence. 

LIVE REVIEW: Piri’s Tour is as ‘Extra Hot’ as it sounds

Written by Elsie Oulton
Edited by Eve Moat

On Friday 3rd November, Piri took to the stage at Project House, bringing her ‘Extra Hot Tour’, and the masses, to Leeds.  The 24 year old Yorkshire native shimmied, she sauntered, she pranced, all whilst filling the new ex-warehouse venue with her infectious, pop-inspired drum and bass.

Other than her March run of intimate, spontaneous shows on ‘The Piri Pop Up Tour’, this is her first proper UK outing as a solo artist (having moved away from ‘Piri and Tommy’, the duo with her ex-boyfriend, and creative collaborator). The pair remain close and collaborate regularly – he joined her on this tour; popping on stage occasionally with a guitar, and shuffling around whilst beaming with an endearing, boyish charm.

The show started with ‘Fumble’, her impeccable Sudley collaboration released this summer, and what followed was an hour of sugary, accomplished dance pop, beach balls, and sunbeds: it was a raucous victory of a live show. Two dancers joined Piri for the majority of the songs, combining regimented choreography with looser, fluid movements, encouraging and riling up the crowd. Piri strutted around the stage with a casual confidence, calmly juggling the combination of the backing tracks, choreography, and her vocals; she has natural ability to hold the room amidst the chaos, and genuinely excite an audience. 

In the second half of the gig, Tommy joined her for an short acoustic set, excitedly dubbed the ‘Jazz Café’ section by Piri when introducing it. Red velvety tables and crude electric candles were hauled in from the sides of the stage by the dancers, yet more ridiculous, ‘on the nose’ props, which added to Piri’s tongue in cheek attitude towards the show’s ‘low budget’. Once ensconced, they performed ‘Settle’, followed by their bright summer single ‘Lovergirl’, and new release ‘Bluetooth’. This section subtly showcased the strong musical foundation the two of them share, and allowed Piri’s bright, shimmering voice to stand alone from the full throttle dance production its usually interpolated with. Following these three tracks, Piri had a Yorkshire love in (naturally), before surprising the crowd with a gloriously well executed cover of the Arctic Monkeys’ ‘When the Sun Goes Down’, rounding off the ‘Jazz Café’ interlude in an the most gloriously unexpected way.

One of the highlights of the show was a walloping mashup of Jorja Smith’s ‘On My Mind’, ‘Pain’ by PinkPanthress, and Crystal Waters’ ‘Gypsy Woman’ (a classic Piri live cover) – the perfect combination for the rave-ready, expansive new venue. This epic juggernaut of a mashup was proceeded by a cover of garage classic ‘Flowers’, neatly setting the tone for this section. Despite consisting entirely of covers, this part of the show wove in seamlessly to the ‘Extra Hot’ set, mirroring the bountiful joy of her original music, whilst simultaneously showcasing her musical influences and inspirations.

The show culminated with ‘Soft Spot’ (the song which initially garnered Tommy and her recognition), followed by ‘On and On’ (cowbell n all). These revved the crowd up to such a degree that quite frankly no one could get enough of ‘Crazy Frog’, when it blasted through the speakers once ‘On and On’ had finished. It had reached peak rave, with Piri and Tommy even rushing back for a quick boogie on stage, and this crowd feel at the end was a testament to the sheer power of a Piri live show. 

LIVE REVIEW: modernlove. Play The Wardrobe in Their Return to Leeds

Written and edited by Eve Moat

Even those who didn’t know the words couldn’t help but bob their heads along with the rest of the frenzied crowd.

After playing Hyde Park Book Club last November, the up-and-coming Indie-rock band modernlove. made a spectacular return to the Leeds scene, with a bigger crowd and stronger cult-following than I had seen just under a year before. With a northern, almost underground support act and a basically flawless continuation of tracks, it would be difficult to criticise any aspect of the band’s recent show at The Wardrobe.

The end of October really threw at us full pelt storms, winds and a whole load of rain. The evening I was going to be in attendance at the Irish foursome’s gig, it absolutely chucked it down. I myself looked like I had just hopped out of the shower by the time I reached the venue. Thankfully, the warmth of the bar area hit me as I stepped through the door and the inviting lighting of the upstairs made sure I didn’t sink into a soggy, grumpy version of myself before the show had even began. After drying off and cosying up to a pint, it was time for me and my friend Ross to enter the basement of the building. Blue and red strobes bounced gently around the stage room, ready for the line-up to begin.

Image Credit: Hannah Lauren (@hanlaurenphotos)

First up was Ellysse Mason, an artist from just across the way in Manchester, seemingly identifiable by her northern accent, but more capturing by her ethereal vocals, melodic guitars and expressive body language. You just couldn’t take your eyes off of her: with her humorous facial expressions and dancing that can only be described as “like no one is watching”, you could feel every person’s inhibitions fall away, and know that everyone could just enjoy watching without any fear of judgement. 

Mason and her band played through songs including ‘Blowing Smoke’ and ‘Crybaby’ (the latter being released this coming January), both of which could be described as melancholy indie due to not just the sounds, but the feelings and atmosphere the melodies provoked. She then moved into more rock-inspired tracks, introducing the first as “this one’s for the girls” and the second as “its kind of about a zombie apocalypse”, and finally ended the set with ‘Getting Down’, a more upbeat song that hyped up the crowd and got them ready for the headliner: modernlove.

As the band walked on stage, the crowd got louder and louder until they erupted with screams and cheers for the ones they had been waiting for. It was straight into their new single ‘Plans’ from there forward, and the hard-core fans knew each and every word, despite it only being released sixteen days prior. They then ran through a few of their newer tracks: a personal favourite of mine being ‘until my heart stops beating’ for its fast pace, catchy basslines and backing synths. 

A person playing guitar and singing on stage

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Image Credit: Hannah Lauren (@hanlaurenphotos)

Before playing a surprise unreleased track named ‘Don’t Feel Myself’, lead vocalist Barry Lally explained to the audience that the first time they played outside of Ireland, they played at Live at Leeds 2021, and coincidently ended up in The Wardrobe having a wild night, where bassist Daniel Rooney lost his phone. After this somewhat wholesome anecdote, the classic modernlove. tune ‘Islands’ began to play, which always consists of the crowd getting on the floor and jumping up as a collective as the song builds back up, and raises the energy in the room by at least double. That happened again that evening.

Similarly to their supporting artist, the band’s track ‘Come Closer’ has an airy-feel to it, with pitched-up synths and higher pitched vocals making it feel relaxed, but also emotional and raw. Lally went on to say, “being a band in the music industry is very changeable and sh*t, so thank you for sticking around”, which really shows how much the band cares about their audience, and the reciprocation of these words from the crowd showed the mutual appreciation between band and fans. As the show started to come to a close (which as a side note: the time flew by), ‘Take Me Far Away’ rapidly increased the tempo and energy on-stage, so much so that the bassist’s shoe came off and he nearly fell into Lally. 

Just before the encore, a dialogue between band and audience showed how much they care about their fans (and how much better Leeds fans can be compared to those in Manchester). The band exited the stage after a “final” song for the quickest encore Ross and I have ever witnessed, which was quickly commented on by my friend (I imagine they wanted to make sure not to lose the crowd due to still being a relatively small band), before returning for their most streamed and most popular song ‘Follow You’, which led the band out with the biggest bang. 

The night left me truly in awe of a still up-and-coming band, and for my friend’s first time seeing them, he too had the same reaction. You might even say we had a modern love for modernlove.

Review: Over My Dead Body – Open Theatre

Words by Igor Tiago Ventura / Edited by Mia Stapleton

Over My Dead Body does not reinvent the murder mystery genre, but it skilfully utilises all its tools to deliver an engaging and entertaining theatrical experience. Written and directed by Chris Louridas, the play introduces a rich array of upper-class personas in its first act. While unravelling the murder mystery of the house servant Ioannis, it takes us on a journey through the dynamics of these characters and explores the comedic and problematic nature of their relationships.

From Agatha Christie’s successful novels to the box office juggernaut Knives Out, the murder-mystery remains widely popular. This genre’s appeal lies in its ability to engage the audience through the resolution of the mystery itself. The audience becomes hyper-aware of the characters’ words, actions, and motivations, investigating the story to determine who could be the perpetrator. In this mental inquiry, the audience inevitably becomes attentive not only to the mysterious crime but also to the characters surrounding it. This is precisely what happens in Over My Dead Body. Louridas introduces a multitude of characters with their own backstories and individual interpersonal dynamics. Unfortunately, due to the large cast and limited runtime, some characters do not receive the development needed to transcend their murder mystery stock types. Nevertheless, their dynamics and conversations become engaging, with standout performances from Evie Knight’s Sarah and Erin Gormley-Meehan’s Charlotte, both managing to showcase true complexity. Alongside them, Jonah O’Sullivan does an excellent job as Harry, driving the story forward with an engaging and compelling performance and stage presence. Developing such an array of characters and exploring their relationships within a tight timeframe is an extraneous demand, one which Over My Dead Body meets thanks to its talented cast and direction.

The show benefits from its use of comedy within darker and more serious themes. Lucy Hart’s portrayal of Ioannis is a marvellous example of utilising physicality within a non-speaking role to deliver a magnetic and comedically charged performance. The exaggerated physicality by the only working-class characters also cleverly comments on the physical demands of the rich onto those they deem as servants. However, throughout the second act, the comedy seems slightly misplaced, distracting from the central dynamics being explored and becoming a detriment to character exploration. Regardless, the balance of light and dark allows the play to explore and elaborate on its themes, providing a pleasant viewing experience.

Central themes of class, paranoia, and satirical social commentary are interesting and explored relatively well. The writing and performers utilise the murder-mystery genre to their advantage, delivering an exploration of these themes compellingly. Accusations that are instantly spat against each other showcase these characters’ self-inflicting paranoia. The interpersonal dynamics showcase Harry as the clearly respected benefactor to whom the others must respond and obey. When this clear social hierarchy is contested because Harry believes someone tried to poison him, the otherwise poised character becomes consumed with obsessive delusions that one of his long-time friends must be the culprit behind the crime. This highlights the fragility of the established social hierarchy within the microcosm of these fractured and flimsy friendships. When the play further explores these characters’ relations, we see how none seem happy. Their marriages are falling apart, their mental and physical health deteriorating, and ironically, the very system causing these issues is the same system they benefit from, allowing them to have grand parties and extravagant lifestyles. This leads to a climax of a brilliant physical altercation between Harry, and James (Billy West) with a simple yet effective usage of lighting and sound that showcases the lengths of madness to which their paranoia drives them. The final twist and the reveal of the murder are both anti-climactic and also a superb use of bathos to showcase the hypocrisy of the rich through the murder-mystery genre.

Overall, this is a very strong performance by an array of dedicated actors who, within one month, created a very enjoyable and engaging experience. Although some characters suffer from a lack of development and some of the comedy causes tonal issues that detract from the overall story, the final product remains one that utilises the murder mystery genre and its tropes to its advantage, enrolling its audience in a compelling manner with the interpersonal dynamics of these characters. A notable display of upper-class hypocrisy that leads to a great twist.

(Images: Feature by Open Theatre, Article image by Jiaqi Qian)