Acoustic Festival Day 1, 15th Jan

Acoustic Festival - The Folk House - 15th Jan

I took my bag, some CD's, a book and NOT a bottle of weak lemon drink. This was to be just about the only time I'd ever been to a gig on my own and I was a little bit worried. Worried about whether I'd be able to just sit there for six - seven hours without talking, save for running upstairs for a drink. Saturday was easier than Sunday, but I'll get into that later. The 'acoustic festival' is a new thing that the Folk House are hoping to make an annual event. With 8 bands for �6 (5 if you pay for both days) you can't go wrong surely, even if you have to sit through some crap to get to the good stuff? So anyway, there I was.

A bit late, because I missed the first act and got in just in time to see Phil King singing a sad song about being young and owing lots and lots of money. It was good in an acoustic singer-songwriter sort of a way and as it was the only song of his I saw, I can't really say how it reflects on the rest of his music.

Rachael Dadd sings songs of food and friendship, swimming in the Olympics and Chernobyl. Her songs have a strangeness about them that sets them apart from the usual girl-with-guitar music. She sings softly, with an innocent charm that makes some of the subjects almost alarming, 'there are sharks, sharks as big as houses; there are sharks as big as aeroplanes (Swimming for Gold).

Comperes are annoying aren't they. Apart from being rightfully aweful of Rachel's set, they bring on some strange man called Ben who we are supposed to know to badly introduce the next band. From Star FM apparently, I hope they talk less on the radio�

Isafire are a country / blues / celtic folk trio who have a disturbing tendency to explain what they think their next song is going to sound like, which is usually not what you end up hearing. Except for the 'darker side of folk' song. With the opening lyric 'don't the night look black' I think we might have worked it out for ourselves. I really didn't get on with the singer's Kate Bush affections and it really didn't seem to gel with the music very well.

In some ways I appreciate the gesture of telling us about the compositional process, 'we were listening to this and Bob thought how's about doing that and I said, with this solo in there�etc', but really we'll just get into an argument about whether music should come with and be understood in terms of its context, a history, or whether it should stand up on its own merits. Let the listener decide, since we all have drastically different appreciations of music anyway. I tend to jump between the two, depending on who I'm talking to. This is what I like to call People Skills.

The Weary Band sound like the Beta Band. Now that's the first impression dealt with, they are really like a young Beta Band. Nice close harmonies, apparently they are usually a louder, rockier outfit but the songs still work really well acoustically. It's a kind of music that's almost like pop but somehow manages to avoid being too twee. Especially when it gets loud.

Jane Taylor is a phenomenon of music. I saw her by accident at Glastonbury in some caf� tent at half past one in the morning. I stayed because she was about sing a song about living in Montpelier (which is in Bristol, if anyone who doesn't know the place ever reads this!) and it was totally engaging. In the occasions I have seen her since, she has always completely sucked me into the music and today was no exception. Playing solo, with occasional support from a cellist, the set was very intimate and you could have heard a pin drop as everyone in the room hung on every word.

'Sorry we are playing without a drummer today,' Babel's singer said, 'if anyone sees him, tell him he's sacked.' Then they launched into a set of fierce intensity - twelve string guitars are wonderful for this - which has planted this band firmly on the map as far as I'm concerned. The songs are a blend of many guitars, violin and bass, with slow changes and rich harmonies. If it's folk, it's a new kind of folk we will probably be hearing a lot more of in the future.

For a fiver, this was probably one of the best bargains I have had for a long time. I didn't get to read much of my book - but I learned about some new bands and walked away with some new music under my arm, vowing to get there on time tomorrow if today was anything to go by.