Orla Foster is back with a selection of some of the best gigs taking place in Liverpool this March.
Low Girl (Saturday 2 March)
The Shipping Forecast
Tickets
Hemel Hempstead might not be known for its musical exports, but Low Girl are about to change that. Describing their latest EP as an exercise in “desperate optimism”, their pensive yet uplifting dream-pop comes laced with 80s synth influences, masking their darker side with their appetite for a bop.
Bronnie (Saturday 2 March)
O2 Academy
Tickets
Wirral’s favourite pop-punk firebrand takes time out from her podcast schedule to set the academy alight. With her unapologetic lyrics and hair pinker than the Barbieverse, you can expect a no-holds-barred shindig to usher in Bronnie’s brand new debut record Jaded.
Another Sky (Wednesday 6 March)
Jacaranda
Tickets
Another Sky met at Goldsmiths, took their name from an Emily Dickinson poem, and rehearse in pitch-black darkness. Expect haunting vocals and politically-charged songs to leave you spellbound. Tickets include a copy of their brand new record Beach Day.
Hutch (Thursday 7 March)
Kazimier Stockroom
Tickets
Hutch’s mission is simple: to escape mediocrity. Having supported such luminaries as Love and Os Mutantes, the Brighton quartet have learned a thing or two about blissed-out psychedelia, and their lyrics are just as transportative, with subject matter ranging from Hugh Laurie’s private lake to the hidden lives of radiator salesmen.
Jehst (Friday 8 March)
24 Kitchen Street
Tickets
This rescheduled show brings one of UK rap’s forerunners, Jehst, to Liverpool, his razor-sharp lyricism painting a bleak and all too relatable portrait of modern Britain. A chance to see a multi-faceted pioneer up close and personal.
Mutual Benefit (Saturday 16 March)
Future Yard
Tickets
The project of singer-songwriter Jordan Lee, Mutual Benefit’s discography has already sent Pitchfork writers into a tailspin. With its twinkling orchestration and tentatively hopeful lyrics, this is folk music in the vein of Sufjan Stevens or Vashti Bunyan.
The Wave Pictures (Thursday 21 March)
FutureYard
Tickets
A welcome return from the Moshi Moshi favourites, whose shambling, heartfelt indie-pop comes rooted in the everyday. It’s been decades since the trio escaped their “dour” Leicestershire village for London, but their songs still conjure up that smalltown, close-knit ennui, as local as a warm pint of mild.
Bill Ryder-Jones (Thursday 21 March)
Content
Tickets
In the wake of his universally well-received album Iechyd Da, here’s a rare chance to raise a glass to one of Merseyside’s finest songwriters – let’s hope it hasn’t sold out by the time you read this. Find a way to beg, steal or borrow a ticket if so!
Lauran Hibberd (Sunday 24 March)
Jacaranda
Tickets
Once described by a date as “the second prettiest girl in the room” Lauran Hibberd has a bone to pick with rubbish men. Her influences run the gamut of 2000s pop-punk, from Fountains of Wayne to Avril, and even the thorniest topics come delivered with a blast of refreshingly sardonic humour.
Koj (Saturday 30 March)
District
Tickets
Still buzzing off his orchestra-backed showcase at the Philharmonic, it’s time to give Koj his flowers yet again at a special 1Xtra live session. Hosted by DJ Target, this performance will be a chance for the scouse visionary to plant his name firmly on the UK hiphop map.
Orla Foster
