Rose Kemp, Cajita, 4th Mar

Rose Kemp + Cajita,
AR2 (Bristol Uni), 4th March

Well it was free. And I'm flat stoney broke, so it seemed like a good way of getting out of the house. Especially since Rose Kemp has one of those voices that gives me shivers. While not exactly her best solo performance, the odd stumble in her finger picking didn't take anything away from the intimacy of the songs, perhaps because I am familiar with some of them now (I'm even getting to know the names!). Having got used to the CD, it is a bit strange to hear the songs played without the band now, and while Violence loses some of the impatience, it is a good way of seeing how they stand up without support.

You can tell that this is how the music starts out, and the recordings are an idea of the writer's vision. In my current mood I'm trying to make my songs work with just the guitar, before getting into the recording stage of adding other parts, toning down what I play and expanding on the ideas. Not entirely unsuccessfully, but the great lyrical desert I seem to be walking in stops me from singing along.

The next band do dance music, not in a charty way, more of a New Age hippy way. They didn't really inspire me much, it seems like cheating when ideas are simplified to this extent. I guess since this band was mainly made up of members of Cajita, you have to let them off wanting to do something different and upbeat. Shame it doesn't really work. So great in fact, that not only have I forgotten the name, but there is no record on the internet of their existence. This is probably best.

Cajita bring back the laptop, or maybe it was the big silver keyboard that played most of the songs. I much preferred them when they played acoustic, there seemed to be a bit more musicianship involved, even though the songs were the same. In this bar it faded into the background and I concentrated on conversation.

An uninspiring gig, but then Rose's amazing voice is always worth re-visiting, regardless of who else is playing.