Brown Horse

Local legends receive a hero's welcome back home.

What an incredible year it has been for the wonderful band of sisters and brothers that are Brown Horse. From releasing their stunning debut album ‘Reservoir’ back in January, they have been touring or recording pretty consistently since, this includes huge festival appearances such as Green Man and Red Rooster, with the stand out show being at End Of The Road fest. Uncut magazine also recognises ‘Reservoir’ as one of the best records of 2024 too.

Playing their final show of the year, it makes total sense for them to be performing at a sold-out Norwich Arts Centre. The venue is the perfect spot for them to be in right now, the atmosphere, sound and ambience are the perfect pitch for everyone in the room.

‘Stealing Horses’ opens the album as it does tonight’s set, the song is like the warmest of blankets, pulling you in and keeping you warm and safe. Patrick’s vocals, so incredibly unique and beautiful, flow across the gentle yet ginormous breeze the band creates as the audience all nod along in constant approval.

The title track follows, dreamy and smoky, it rumbles along, I absolutely adore this song and hearing it live, again, it just takes on an even bigger life, brooding and beautiful with the incredibly talented Emma on Pedal steel guitar bringing the song home.

‘Verna Bloom’ is a new song that has all the makings of being the next Brown Horse classic. Whilst ‘Shoot Back’ is already in that camp, the immediate audience members around me all singing and smiling along. Joy behold.

‘Paul Gilley’ gets the kind of welcome it absolutely deserves. Easily one of my songs of the year, actually, one of my songs of any year, it is heart-aching and beautiful. The harmonies filling the grand old building tilt skywards and shoot for the moon, with Phoebe's stunning vocals on the chorus taking my breath away.

‘Bloodstain’ is the alt-rocker golden ticket of the set. It thunders in and gets the audience moving, there’s a lot of smiles going back and forth from stage to floor, and there’s a lot of love too. We’re also treated to another new song ‘Corduroy Couch’ and is bound to be a firm fan favourite in the years to come, with Nyle on lead guitar these songs can never go wrong.

Other highlights include ‘Sunfisher’ which has guitar riff that drives the song along ‘Outtakes’ is equally as huge and impressive, with Rowan on the accordion being an absolute gem. What I love about this band is that all the members are songwriters, they all bring their own magical, musical recipe into the mix and this works perfectly.

Closing out their set is a wonderful cover of a Jason Molina song called ‘Farewell Transmission’ which the band have been performing since their End Of The Road Festival performance.

It’s the perfect end to what has been the perfect year for our local legends, and with a second album on the horizon, 2025 is shaping up to be an even bigger year. We shall be there.

Also on the bill were the delightful Lilo, who are slowly but surely climbing the music ladder. The London based duo (who expand to a five-piece on stage) have such rich, delicious harmonies that even a broken voice couldn’t break (lead vocalist Christie Gardner still sounded beautiful despite being poorly)

They reminded me of Laura Marling and their new single ‘Crash The Car’ deserves to be heard on speakers and stages up and down the country.