Orla Foster compiles a rundown on some of the best gigs in Liverpool this January.
Chrome Manta Ray, Dead Rebel and The Guize (Saturday 13 Jan)
Kazimier Stockroom
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In an otherwise quiet month for rock bands, Kazimier Stockroom manages to pull three out of the bag. This is the very first live outing for Chrome Manta Ray, and a chance to blow off some cobwebs in those cold, unappetising early nights of the year.
Jeffrey Martin (Tuesday 23 Jan)
FutureYard
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Jeffrey Martin was a schoolteacher when he first turned his hand to songwriting. His students’ loss is our gain, as the Oregon-based singer-songwriter continues to pour his weighty reckonings with life into a body of work that is unflinchingly raw and personal. Latest album Thank God We Left The Garden was recorded in his shed, but you can look forward to hearing it very soon in the ‘Yard.
Nell Mescal (Thursday 25 Jan)
Leaf on Bold Street
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Rescheduled from October, this much-anticipated show finds Irish singer-songwriter Nell Mescal finally confiding her quietly observed coming-of-age tales to a Liverpool crowd. Her accounts of leaving home and feeling out of place are laced with poignancy and wit, but also enough indie-pop sensibilities to keep the mood light.
Spanish Love Songs (Sunday 21 Jan)
District
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Spanish Love Songs are a band who believe happiness is fleeting – so snatch it while you can. Their melodic emo-punk stops off somewhere along the intersection between the Menzingers and the Killers: bruised and embittered but with big rousing choruses. Far from being joyless, their back-catalogue contains enough hooks to ensure a blinder of a show.
Dlina Volny (Wednesday 24 Jan)
Kazimier Stockroom
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Fancy a bit of darkwave post-punk from Belarus? Head to the Stockroom to witness Dlina Volny add their pop sheen to dystopian subject matter. Inspired by the brutalist architecture of hometown Minsk, they also touch on political themes, with song Whatever Happens Next critiquing the scandal of the 2020 Belarusian elections.
This Is The Kit (Friday 26 Jan)
Grand Central Hall
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This Is The Kit have taken many forms since starting out in 2003. The recording project of Kate Stables, they’re constantly reinventing their sound, and over the years have enlisted a long list of collaborators including The National and Gruff Rhys. Latest record Careful of Your Keepers marries folk influences with lavishly off-kilter instrumentation – and who could ask for a more beautiful setting to hear it in?
Bleach Lab (Saturday 27 Jan)
District
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London’s Bleach Lab will be stirring up a welcome haze of nostalgia as they bring their haunting dream-pop soundscapes to District. Expect pensive lyrics underscored by the kind of spindly, echoing basslines that nod to Cocteau Twins and The Cure.
The Olllam (Sunday 28 Jan)
Arts Club Theatre
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With a name loosely translating to “master” in Irish, The Olllam are certified experts where musicianship is concerned. Belfast’s premier piper John McSherry and Detroit-based Tyler Duncan and Michael Shimmin were perfecting their craft for decades before they finally teamed up to make a record over Skype. Offline, they take an expansive, post-rock approach to Irish music – don’t expect any parlour jigs here.
Brad Stank (Tuesday 30 Jan)
The Jacaranda Club
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The velvety-voiced paramour will be teasing his new album In The Midst Of You at this special hometown show. Using elements of funk, jazz and psychedelia to preach his message of romance, it’s sure to mark a welcome return from Liverpool’s self-professed answer to Barry White. If you’ve never witnessed Stank’s moonlight serenades before, don’t sleep on this.
Ye Vagabonds (Tuesday 30 Jan)
FutureYard
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Brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn make up Ye Vagabonds, a folk act signed to River Lea along with the likes of Lankum and Lisa O’Neill. The Carlow-born duo put their own stamp on traditional Irish songs, reworking ancient ballads alongside new material, with lilting harmonies sure to prick up the hairs on the back of your neck.
Orla Foster
