LET’S EAT GRANDMA + FAKE LAUGH – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 21.10.22
I discovered Let’s Eat Grandma in the Spring of 2016 when running through the list of artists for that year’s Great Escape new music festival, that takes place here in Brighton every May. The lineup that year was truly inspirational with so many “must see” acts that were not to be missed. There was Anna Of The North, Have You Ever Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS?, Kiko Bun, K-X-P, Amber Arcades, Girli, INHEAVEN, PAUW, the fin., Bayonne and of course Let’s Eat Grandma.
On 9th February 2016, they had dropped the video for their ‘Deep Six Textbook’ single ahead of the release of their debut album ‘I, Gemini’ which was to be released on 17th June 2016 via Transgressive Records. The five and a half minute epic ‘Deep Six Textbook’ was unlike anything I had heard before. It was a brooding haunting slow melody that Kate Bush would have been proud of and one that I became almost obsessed with. I simply couldn’t stop playing it along with ‘Turning Light’ by Amber Arcades, ‘Space Precious Time’ by K-X-P, ‘Sound Mirrors’ by Covenant and ‘Eat Shiitake Mushrooms’ also by Let’s Eat Grandma.
I was struggling to comprehend how on earth two young girls (Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth) aged just 13 or 14 had come up with such fabulous tunes. I knew that there was a serious bond between the two girls as they had met in reception class at school in Norwich when they were just four years old and have been inseparable ever since. They were like joined at the hip close and you can see the synergy between them during their live sets as one takes over from the other on keyboards etc. Their bond is very close and very endearing.
Wind the clock forward to 2018 and Rosa and Jenny, we at it again with the release of their second long-player ‘I’m All Ears’, which dropped on 29th June. Prior to this I came across a video for a then unreleased epic song going by the name of ‘Donnie Darko’ which the girls were performing live at a festival. It was eleven minutes of pure joy, this was their ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (Queen) or ‘Autobahn’ (Kraftwerk) and was to become my favourite song of 2018 by anyone and turned up as the final number on the ‘I’m All Ears’ album. Rosa and Jenny are no doubt fully aware of this song’s brilliance as they often close their live sets with it, as indeed they did for us this evening at Patterns.
Not surprisingly, the Brighton & Hove News Music Team have covered Let’s Eat Grandma a handful of times before and all were part of The Great Escape as they unusually got invited back no less than three times! These were at The Haunt (now Chalk) on 19th May 2016 from 8:30pm to 9pm, the Latest Music Bar on 20th May 2016 (although technically it was 21st May as they appeared from 1am to 1:45am), The Old Market on 18th May 2018 from 9:15pm to 9:45pm, back at The Old Market on 12th May 2022 10:15pm to 10:45pm, and on Brighton Beach in the Amazon New Music Stage from 10:15pm to 11pm. Thankfully, I was present at four of these concerts. You can see photos from each of these performances at the foot of this review!
And so on to this evening’s 65 minute performance in Brighton at Patterns…..
The early days concerts were just purely the two girls, but as time has gone on they have added other people to their live performance ranks and this evening is no exception as a quartet takes to the neon backlit stage at 8:38pm until closure at 9:43pm. One of these being Berlin-born, London-based songwriter Kamran Khan, who was also our support artist this evening under the moniker of Fake Laugh which he established back in 2013. Khan has released quite a number of songs during that period which can be located on his Bandcamp page and his Soundcloud page.
Sometimes Fake Laugh performs as a band, Khan informs us tonight, but this evening it is solely him with his Fender Jaguar guitar. He plays for 27 minutes and entertains the punters with around seven numbers from 7:35pm to 8:02pm. They were all original compositions, with the exception of tune three, which was Khan’s slightly slower rendition of Broadcast’s 2000 single ‘Come On Let’s Go’, which I reckon is my favourite song of theirs, and one that I will never have the chance to witness live as Broadcast’s singer Trish Keenan passed away back in 2011 of complications from pneumonia. This was the highlight of his performance for me. Khan was bold enough to try new material and each tune was absorbed by the punters. In my notes taken during the set I had written “The audience were so respectful and the only thing you could hear is his dreamy voice and his guitar”. A few minutes after I had written this, Khan thanked us for being an attentive audience and explained that this wasn’t always the case during his performances!
www.facebook.com/fakelaughmusic
After a 36 minute interval, it was time for Let’s Eat Grandma to entertain us with their eleven song selection which commenced with the uplifting ‘Happy New Year’ which is also the opening number for their recently released third album ‘Two Ribbons’.
There was quite a selection of instruments on display on the compact stage tonight. The mainstay of which were the two Novation 49SL MKII USB MIDI Controller keyboards which they had one apiece. Sideways on to us (on stage right, our left) there was a Yamaha PSR-170 keyboard, in front of that there was a glockenspiel (which has metal bars as opposed to a xylophone uses wood). To the centre rear of the stage there was a drum kit with accompanying Roland drum pads. Rosa also had a Fender Mustang guitar and Jenny had her trust saxophone as well as her whistle. Kamran Khan (stage left, our right) again had his Fender guitar and was also in control of a retro-looking Moog synth.
Tonight’s event was a sold out affair and I reckon that Let’s Eat Grandma could have quite possibly even played a larger Brighton venue, I’m quietly confident that if their momentum continues, then for their next local appearance, they will be headlining a larger capacity establishment.
After the ‘Intro’ that led into ‘Happy New Year’, which was the first of six tunes culled from their new ‘Two Ribbons’ album, we were treated to ‘Falling Into Me’ and ‘Hot Pink’ (both from their 2018 ‘I’m All Ears’ album). They were going down a storm and the punters were bopping along nicely and Jenny, Rosa and their chums appeared to be enjoying themselves on this the penultimate date of their 11 location UK leg of their tour, prior to heading off to North America for a 16-date jaunt during November.
Next up was the second of the numbers from ‘Two Ribbons’, that being the marching drumming beat of ‘Hall Of Mirrors’, which was followed by ‘Watching You Go’ from the same release. The uplifting vibe was then taken down several notches as they performed the hypnotic masterpiece ‘Deep Six Textbook’, the sole remaining cut from their debut ‘I, Gemini’ album. It was tingly arms and back of the neck time! Keeping it mellow, they continued with the title song from the new LP ‘Two Ribbons’, which sees Jenny’s Norfolk dialect over Rosa’s guitar. It’s an eastern counties take on The Velvet Underground and thoroughly enjoyable. ‘Give Me A Reason’ followed and was another example of the duo’s versatile sound.
The final numbers were ‘I Really Want To Stay At Your House’ (which is a Rosa Walton and Hallie Coggins tune found on the 2020 ‘Cyberpunk 2077: Radio, Vol. 2 (Original Soundtrack)’ album), and the really decent ‘Levitation’ (from ‘Two Ribbons’). There was after this rapturous applause from all and sundry as they vacated the stage, but our enthusiasm forced the four musicians back to the stage for one final outing, that being the timeless ‘Donnie Darko’ (from 2018 ‘I’m All Ears’ album). It was better than brilliant and Jenny climbed the barrier to briefly run among us as well.
With 17 minutes before the 10pm curfew, that was our lot and a large queue formed at the merch stall, which speaks volumes!
Let’s Eat Grandma setlist:
‘Happy New Year’ (from 2022 ‘Two Ribbons’ album)
‘Falling Into Me’ (from 2018 ‘I’m All Ears’ album)
‘Hot Pink’ (from 2018 ‘I’m All Ears’ album)
‘Hall Of Mirrors’ (from 2022 ‘Two Ribbons’ album)
‘Watching You Go’ (from 2022 ‘Two Ribbons’ album)
‘Deep Six Textbook’ (from 2016 ‘I, Gemini’ album)
‘Two Ribbons’ (from 2022 ‘Two Ribbons’ album)
‘Give Me A Reason’ (from 2022 ‘Two Ribbons’ album)
‘I Really Want To Stay At Your House’ (Rosa Walton and Hallie Coggins tune) (from 2020 ‘Cyberpunk 2077: Radio, Vol. 2 (Original Soundtrack)’ album)
‘Levitation’ (from 2022 ‘Two Ribbons’ album)
(encore)
‘Donnie Darko’ (from 2018 ‘I’m All Ears’ album)
