Brown Horse

It’s a hero's welcome for a local band who are going to take on the musical world.

Currently riding the crest of a wave following glowing reviews of their stunning debut album Reservoir, the sextet find themselves on a tour across Scandinavia and the UK.

Tonight’s pit stop back home is gig number thirty-eight in a run that has only seen the band have ten days off. That impressive and most likely exhausting feat certainly doesn’t show in their performance.

I’ve seen many, many bands since I’ve moved to this Fine City but tonight’s experience is quite possibly the greatest yet.

Each member of this tour de force of a group brings their incredible talent to the stage in an incredible way. It’s like watching musicians that have honed their talents over decades.

Opening with Stealing Horses (which also happens to be the first track from Reservoir) our Horses launch into a wonderful fuzz of 60’s and modern indie-folk with sheer gusto and revelry. There are dreamy vocals and wonderful harmonies from lead singer Patrick Turner and multi-musician Phoebe Troup. Turner’s vocals are incredibly unique and sound just as rich live as they do on record.

Another highlight for me was the stunning performance from Emma Tovell. Seeing a pedal steel guitar up front and being played wonderfully was an absolute dream for me having been in love with the instrument since I heard it being used in R.E.M’s unplugged back in the early 90s. We also got some beautiful accordion sounds whilst Ben Auld on drums kept us all in time with a wonderful, free flowing performance.

Patrick Turner was keen to point out that these wonderful collections of songs are a team effort and you really get the feeling that this band of brothers and sisters will work together for quite some time to come.

Songs like Bloodstain which sounds absolutely huge and full of verve. We were treated to a number of new songs such as Tombland (no prizes for guessing where the title of this song was taken from) and Wipers which sounded like it could have been taken from Neil Young’s Harvest. Holy Smokes another new track also sounded like the birth of Alt-Country. I genuinely think Brown Horse will be leaders of a new movement very, very soon.

Crowd favourite Shoot Back was another incredible highlight, everyone in the room was nodding in approval as the song swirled across the room, it’s a true masterpiece and will surely become one of many signature songs from a truly wonderful group of musicians. The band are away to record their sophomore album once this tour is over, on the strength of tonight it is going to be some record.

In support we had South London’s very own Baggio who reminded in me parts of Belle & Sebastian. Lead singer/songwriter Ben Wyborn mentioned how his mother disliked Norwich because City beat her beloved West Ham back in 1987 but it’s safe to say the warm welcome his wonderful band received will mean Baggio will return with more songs of wonder and merriment.

We also had Brown Horse’s very own Phoebe Troup performing with her other bandmates. Her songs are a delight, with Phoebe’s vocal range a true pleasure to listen to. Her songwriting will only continue to grow and I’m truly looking forward to hearing more from her whether that’s as part of Brown Horse or solo.

Catch these wonderful musicians while you can, for they will be selling far larger shows out very, very soon.