The weather delayed my arrival which means I missed a couple of artists. I was grateful though that I got to hear the lovely, classic-sounding melodies of Tim Mellins including half of a song in the making. The musician played his guitar and layed some great melodies on the sound of his instrument. Talking to him later on, I was surprised again at how great sounds like these can so easily be lost in the busy-ness of every day life. Sometimes, we judge an artist by the number of their releases, their position on the charts, the number of shows performed or booked. Yet the work that is required simply to make money to survive and after that to afford travelling to your show’s venue or to record a good quality demo is never taken into account. There is a lot of competition out there and the listener and the promoter alike get drowned in so many sounds that what is left in their memory is the sound that repeated itself the most, the person who could afford coming thrice. It would be a shame if the sound of this artist’s music was lost in that noise.

Richard Rands offered great sound from delivery to content. The cheeky lyrics of his first song, All this time, invite an ex to take her time getting over him and you’re taken with a smile by that wink and a catchy melody. The second song is a very original take on Kings of Leon’s song Pyro. He went on with another one of his own song, giving us another power delivery and enjoyable song.

Hear more on Richard’s Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-yjVjQukearVPBjsj0hw_w

“This is not a love song” are the words in the song that came afterwards, resounding of the dissonance and the heights of tumultuous feelings. Ingrid Schwartz moved to Leeds from the Midlands and the second song in her set was the first one she wrote in Leeds. That sound gave a more familiar vibe, a more standard melody than the first one. Accompanied by her guitar she goes from a whisper to almost a roar, filling up the space and gathering some whistles with the applause. For her third offering, she sets a background: Imagine, you write a love song for your loved one, sing it to them, only to hear them say: you need to work on your song structure. Well if you are Ingrid Schwartz, you write a song. Her last song is that revenge song, called “Smoke Your Cigarette” better know by her band as “the a**hole song”. In spite of the title and the sentiment, the song is lovely.

Guitars were really honoured with basically all musicians but me playing the instrument. Henry Parker was ot just another guitarist though. His guitar work was stuff of aural delight as the musician strummed and plucked away. A simple and short song introduced his set demonstrating how sometimes the most sophisticated things come in simple packages. I thoroughly enjoyed the guitar work at the tip of his fingers; this became especially obvious when he performed the second song, Driving East. What became my definite favorite performance of the lot, graced us in musicianship from the performance back to the songwriting, and the way the melody waved around the accompanying guitar music. There is a way that song just gently hit the listener’s folk nostalgia. The musician then covered a traditional folk song, the Radcliff highways, reminiscent of the many Folk clubs he had played. A lovely journey from modern to traditional to modern Folk.

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It was lovely to meet the lovely Liam Jary and all the sadder to have missed his set. This Norfolk-born musician now resides in Leeds where he performs his enticing music. How do I know that if I missed his set? Well, first I conversed with the artist to extract as much information as I could get between other musicians’ set. Then when the show ended and I managed to get myself back home, where the weather and a football match delayed my arrival even further, I headed to Facebook and Youtube for a dose of catchup. This is what I heard.

I was the penultimate act (or maybe I was the last?) with four songs, The Unscripted from my new and upcoming album, Listen (which I have not played in a while), Silence No More (that I feel like playing all the time even when my voice is still battling the remains of a throat ache), and Free Like Smoke.

A certain Vanessa seem to offer a bonus round. She came last, encouraging and accompanying in turn on the guitar two singers on vocals, each with their own song. The first singer whispered a fresh and lovely air. When the timidity evaporates, her full sound will definitely show off more clearly. A little girl was the second accompanied act. As she sang, her confidence grew as she belted her last sounds, finishing the music event.