KATY J PEARSON + NAIMA BOCK – CHALK, BRIGHTON 13.9.22
Tuesday night saw rising star Bristolian singer-songwriter Katy J Pearson play Chalk as part of a 17-date tour around the UK this September to promote her second album ‘Sound Of The Morning’.
Katy J Pearson was accompanied on stage with a full band, which included a drummer, guitarist, bassist, keyboards, a brass section with a trumpet player and saxophonist. Also joining Katy on tour was Sarah Downey, from Drug Store Romeos, on backing vocals and flute.
Her record company, Heavenly, is keen to point out “Katy J Pearson would like you to know that she is not a country singer.” There are undeniable strong hints of country music in her style, less so on the new material from ‘Sound Of The Morning’ compared to her debut album ‘Return’. Based on her performance at Chalk, it would be wrong to pigeonhole Katy as a country artist. There was a variety of musical styles and influences evident from Americana to pop melodies to storytelling folk alongside country.
Katy has a voice that grew on me through her set. It has been described as “Kate Bush-meets-Dolly Parton” by The Times and there were close similarities with early Kate Bush vocals on some numbers. Katy’s vocals were powerful without being overbearing, more of a confident assured delivery.
On both ‘Miracle’ and ‘Howl’ the Kate Bush vocal comparison was clearly noticeable. This comparison didn’t distract from her performance, nor dominate throughout the set. In contrast ‘Confession’ from the new album, showed a poppier side to Katy’s vocal talent.
The first two songs were from her debut album ‘Return’. The opening song: ‘Take Back The Radio’ was in a poppier style while ‘Beautiful Soul’ started with a heavier guitar intro. The latter of these two being a good example of how Katy builds her songs bringing in instruments during the song and fading others out.
There was one false start in the set. After a long introduction to ‘Fix Me Up’ about how she wrote it with her brother and it was rejected by her previous record label, they had to restart the song after a few bars. Otherwise, it was an almost faultless performance.
It seemed strange to me that there were two covers in the 14 song set, one of which was the encore. I would’ve thought Katy had enough material from two albums to include more of her own material. The quality of her own material suggests she may’ve been better off leaving the audience with one of her own songs rather than a B-52s cover, however well it was performed.
Kate J Pearson and her band delivered a very good set. Thankfully they managed to cut through the audience chatter. Although the gig was sold out, Chalk was not packed. That said, I think the vast majority of the crowd there on Tuesday enjoyed Katy J Pearson’s performance.
Katy J Pearson setlist:
‘Take Back The Radio’ (from the 2020 ‘Return’ album)
‘Beautiful Soul’ (from the 2020 ‘Return’ album)
‘Confession’ (from the 2022 ‘Sound Of The Morning’ album)
‘Miracle’ (from the 2020 ‘Return’ album)
‘Howl’ (from the 2020 ‘Return’ album)
‘Sound Of The Morning’ (from the 2022 ‘Sound Of The Morning’ album)
‘Storm To Pass’ from ’ (from the 2022 ‘Sound Of The Morning’ album)
‘Willow’s Song’ (Paul Giovanni cover from ‘The Wicker Man’ film)
‘Alligator’ from (from the 2022 ‘Sound Of The Morning’ album)
‘Float’ from (from the 2022 ‘Sound Of The Morning’ album)
‘Fix Me Up’ (from the 2020 ‘Return’ album)
‘Talk Over Town’ (from the 2022 ‘Sound Of The Morning’ album)
‘Tonight’ from (from the 2020 ‘Return’ album)
(encore)
‘Roam’ (The B‐52s cover)
Katy J Pearson can be found on Bandcamp and check her out via her label, Heavenly HERE.
First up at Chalk on Tuesday was Naima Bock, ex-Goat Girl bassist (formerly known by her goat name, Naima Jelly). Her new style is vastly different from her time with Goat Girl. She’s moved on from indie post punk to folk and on Tuesday swapped the bass guitar for an acoustic one.
I’d seen Naima before supporting her former band at The 100 Club, shortly after she’d left Goat Girl. On that occasion she was accompanied by Goat Girl guitarist, L.E.D. (Ellie Rose Davies). At Chalk she performed a solo acoustic set.
Naima seemed nervous coming on stage, and the intro music had finished before she’d completed the final fine-tuning of her guitar. Despite the slightly awkward start, she needn’t have been nervous, as she was amazingly talented. As well as top-quality guitar playing, she has an impressive mesmerising voice, very much in the folk singing style. On some songs, there were also hints of choral notes in her voice, as well as melodic chanting.
Her set was made up of material from her debut album ‘Giant Palm’. Born in Glastonbury to a Brazilian father and spending some of her childhood in Brazil, Naima’s upbringing is reflected in her solo material. Her songs are influenced both from the Brazilian standards that her family listened to and also the European folk traditions.
Highlights of her set for me included the single ‘Every Morning’, and the closing song and title track from the album ‘Giant Palm’.
If anything, Naima’s performance was too polished and gave the impression of a studio recording. Being a solo set, some of the variety from the album ‘Giant Palm’, and such as ‘Instrumental’ with its brass section couldn’t be included in the set.
Unfortunately, her set was spoiled by the constant chattering by several people in the audience. Despite standing fairly close to the stage, their less-than private conversations were noticeable above the singing from the stage. This is both annoying to those who want to listen to the performance, and disrespectful to the artist. I wasn’t the only one to feel this, as others commented on this after the set and between songs.
For those fully engaged with Naima Bock’s performance, it went down extremely well.
As a footnote, fans who attend Katy’s Brighton concert at Chalk and enjoy the support artist Naima Bock, will be pleased to learn that Naima will be making a swift return the following month to the City, when she will be playing live at The Prince Albert on Tuesday 11th October 2022. You can purchase your tickets for that intimate concert HERE.
For further information on Naima Bock, visit her ‘linktree’ HERE.
