Following a UK tour of various pubs and music venues, the Sheffield duo Slow Club popped into the Joiners to grace Southampton with a mix of new and old songs.
Being a little late I missed the first support act, Pivotal, but arrived in time for Michele Stodart from The Magic Numbers, whose Gibson Hummingbird and well trained voice produced a magical sound in a room with such good acoustics. After Michele finished up, the room got steadily busier and a hushed silence fell when Rebecca and Charles took to the stage with an additional guitarist and bass player.
Slow Club got off to a great start with last year’s popular single ‘Where I’m Walking’, followed by ‘Never Look Back’. The quality of voice and instruments amazed myself and the crowd alike; everyone seemed unsure whether to jump around or stand there stunned. Rebecca hopped between two drum kits and a beautiful ivory telecaster, trying to suppress laughter between songs, and at one point the bassist and guitarist swapped instruments to the amusement of the audience.
Despite technical issues, such as the bassist’s vocal contributions falling on deaf ears due to a quiet microphone and the lead guitar having major problems with tuning, Charles vowed to “beat the guitar”, and so he did. Everything was forgiven when ‘Horses Jumping’ started and the audience was treated to a perfectly executed four part harmony. The only shame was I felt like a few of the songs sounded a bit too similar, but the rest of the crowd seemed to disagree.
Rebecca announced the last few songs would be new and a grumble ran through the room as everyone waited impatiently for ‘Two Cousins’, the band’s biggest hit so far. To my surprise, I found the new songs to be more varied and generally better than the old ones and where bands such as The Maccabees have recently failed, Slow Club mastered a rare achievement for bands.
If at the end of the set anyone felt like their £10 entry wasn’t well spent, the bassist donned a saxophone, jumped on an upside down bottle box and showed off a bit; I left musically satisfied and I’m pretty sure everyone else did too.
8/10
