COWZ + HEIGHTS + FRIEND OF FRANKY – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 24.7.24
Tonight’s the big night for Brighton based bestie duo COWZ as they have finally worked their way up on the local scene and are this evening performing their first ever headlining set. Back in 2021 Natasha ‘Tasha’ Nicholl (aka Tasha Bloom) moved in with Swedish born Saga Wahlström and such was their empathy, that they decided to pool their talents and thus COWZ was born. For their live sets, the girls share vocal duties and Saga is in control of the laptop, which contains their compositions.
Brighton’s alt-pop next-big-thing first laid out their mission by dropping their ‘Most Fun I’ve Had in Ages!’ single last year, which has swiftly been followed by a trio of 2024 singles (‘Domination’, ‘Bad News’ and ‘Rosalie’) which then culminated in their ‘That’s Cute! Baby’ EP which dropped back in May. Suffice to say all of these bouncy pop tunes were given an outing on this most special of evenings at the Green Door Store as part of their 9 track 32 minute set, which ran from 10:03pm to 10:35pm. There were a number of balloons positioned on either side of the stage and the excited punters were waiting with baited breath in order to see what fun was in store for us all this evening. Every time I have seen COWZ live, they bring a beaming smile across my face, as I watch their facial expressions, often comical lyrics and over-exaggerated dance routines. This duo really needs to be playing ‘Pride’, whether it be this year or next, I think it’s literally just a matter of time before they cotton on. Meanwhile COWZ are our secret for now, but judging by the amount of live gigs they have been playing of late, this might not be the case for very long!
This evening’s audience mainly consists of late teens and twenty-somethings who are out to check out COWZ bubble-gum pop sounds. The uplifting beats begin with ‘Most Fun In Ages!’ from their brand new 2024 ‘That’s Cute! Baby’ EP, which is why we are here this evening! Quickly following on its heels is the unreleased ‘Elephant’, which isn’t about the glorious mammal, but about gossiping. Selection three is also as yet to be recorded, this being ‘Ur No Rockstar’, which I don’t think I’ve heard live before. The harmonies are nicely in sync for this decent tune. After which we had the slower ‘Domination’ which is about eating billionaires, with the classic line: “Tickets to Venus are now on sale for 45 million dollars” which reminds me of Dee D Jackson’s ‘Automatic Lover’ epic. Fab news immediately follows this track as Saga informs us that their EP has already hit 100,000 views/listens on Spotify. Cue hearty cheers from the punters in celebration of this piece of information.
Their ‘Twilight Saga’ inspired number was next in the form of ‘Rosalie’, which I can recall Saga informing us at a previous concert, was penned as the duo thought Rosalie was hot! Saga made a very brief foray off stage to come down and joined us and excitedly flapped her arms as though a bird was trying a vertical lift-off, which had its comedy value. ‘Bad News’, like the previous tune, is also found on the new EP and this track is a slow starter but really gets going half-way through as the bouncy beat kicks in. Their ‘La La Like You’ earworm was their next choice and this too has a decent bouncing beat. During this song it was Natasha’s turn to jump off stage and join us, Saga followed and a dance was had. Their penultimate number was ‘Favourite Song’ which I think just about clinched it for me as best in set. This as yet unrecorded number really goes for that Bobby O style Hi-NRG beat, as the lyrics go “I miss the fun fun fuuuuun!”. The duo sign off with the uplifting ‘Psychos’ from their EP and at 10:35pm that’s our lot. Yet again, another enjoyable performance!
COWZ:
Saga Wahlström – vocals, laptop
Natasha ‘Tasha’ Nicholl aka Tasha Bloom – vocals
COWZ setlist:
‘Most Fun In Ages!’ (from 2024 ‘That’s Cute! Baby’ EP)
‘Elephant’ (unreleased)
‘Ur No Rockstar’ (unreleased)
‘Domination’ (from 2024 ‘That’s Cute! Baby’ EP)
‘Rosalie’ (from 2024 ‘That’s Cute! Baby’ EP)
‘Bad News’ (from 2024 ‘That’s Cute! Baby’ EP)
‘La La Like You’ (unreleased)
‘Favourite Song’ (unreleased)
‘Psychos’ (from 2024 ‘That’s Cute! Baby’ EP)
Before COWZ took to the Green Door Store stage this evening, we were in the all-too-short company of HEIGHTS which is the project of Chelsie Tyrrell. Tonight’s performance lasted a mere 20 minutes, from 9:07pm to 9:27pm and in that time Chelsie gave us a half-dozen original compositions, as a solo artist, whereas when I recently saw her, she was accompanied by Adham Armenti on bass and Joe Hall on drums, drumpads, and laptop. So it’s Chelsie’s dreamy vocals and a solitary mini presets keyboard on offer tonight. It will be interesting to note if there are any changes and indeed there are as a trio of songs from her recent ‘Dreaming Of You’ EP, ‘Come See Me’, ‘Honey Will You Come Back’ and ‘Swinging As I Go’ are not given an airing tonight, and neither is her 2020 single ‘Breathe’, so it’s a new look set for me.
Tonight’s opener is the same as last time at Komedia Studio, namely ‘I’ve Been Dreaming Of You’, which was the first of two tracks from this year’s ‘Dreaming Of You’ EP. The understated quality was still evident from the very off! Immediately I had vibes of it being like Jessie Ware, which is a positive. The music is emotive alt-pop which delves into 1980s new wave, 1990s dream pop, and a sprinkling of 2000s alternative indie. Heartworms also springs to mind, although they are both very different entities! No wonder my colleague had announced in a previous review that “HEIGHTS delivered one of the most beautiful vocal performances I’ve heard in a long time. From dreamy ethereal to upbeat alt-pop, her celestial voice was pure class from start to finish. She’s most definitely one to watch”. I absolutely totally agree with this!
Being a totally independent artist, there’s an endearing frailty with Chelsie, who somehow unjustifiably underplays her work and self. If I knew her well, I would give her a big squeezy hug and inform her just how great she is and how much potential there is here, and that for SoundCloud to list HEIGHTS as an ‘Artist To Watch’, surely carries a big plus sign. Right, pep talk over, it’s back to the music and ‘Metchu’, found on 2023’s ‘Glow’ EP is selection two. We are informed that this is “about falling in love” and the poppy beats flowed and it was a fab vocal delivery. I guess the love didn’t last, as song three we are told is about “heartbreak” and not surprisingly this has a slower beat, and yet one where there is so much emotion going on. After this, Chelsie played ‘With You All The Way’ and again her vocals were very much like Jessie Ware’s and reminded me of a slower version of her ‘110%’.
Tonight’s penultimate selection was the telling ‘Astronaut’, which Chelsie informs us is “a song about trying to find yourself, where everyone seems to have already found themselves”. Maybe Chelsie sometimes feels like Major Tom (‘Space Oddity’), I’m sure we all have done at times, but the beat of this track, for me, was very grounded and the dance version of Everything But The Girl’s ‘Missing’ classic sprung to mind. Chelsie’s confidence had again grown throughout the set and yet it was already time for the last track, this being the most dancebeat friendly and for me the best of the set, it’s her 2024 ‘Summer’ single and it’s a chooon! Again I enjoyed my HEIGHTS encounter and wished that the songs were longer and that we were given more of them. Roll on next time then!
HEIGHTS:
Chelsie Tyrrell – vocals, keys
HEIGHTS setlist:
‘I’ve Been Dreaming Of You’ (from 2024 ‘Dreaming Of You’ EP)
‘Metchu’ (from 2023 ‘Glow’ EP)
‘If You Notice’ (from 2023 ‘Glow’ EP)
‘With You All The Way’ (from 2024 ‘Dreaming Of You’ EP)
‘Astronaut’ (a 2024 Lo/Heights single)
‘Summer’ (a 2024 single)
Kicking off this evening’s entertainment are local Brighton based quartet Friend Of Franky. The four-piece has had a reboot of late and now features Kit Madge (they/he) – vocals, Anna Rees (they/them) – guitar and vocals, Viv Maher (she/her) – bass, and Phil Shambrook (he/him) – drums, drumpads and electronics. Tonight is Fender guitarist Anna’s second appearance with the band, but you would have never guessed. Eagle-eyed punters might also recognise Viv as also being the live bassist for Polite Bureaux.
This evening we are in their company for 32 minutes (from 8:04pm to 8:36pm) and we are given six original compositions plus a cover song. It’s quite clear that Friend Of Franky have a number of friends and family members in this evening for extra support, but such is the magnetism of vocalist Kit, they wouldn’t have needed them anyway! They open up with the rockin’ ‘Be Bad’ and immediately after which Kit enquiries “First things, what’s with the distance?”, a reference to the punter’s distance from the stage. A majority obligingly shuffle forward for a closer interaction with the band and their music.
Selection two is titled ‘Pretty’ and beforehand Kit informs us that “We are going to be gay and we are going to be sad” and so ‘Pretty’ starts as a more laidback tune, but then grows throughout, especially Kit’s radio-friendly vocal delivery. ‘Rose In A Box’ is up next and benefits from rumbley bass action from Viv on her colourful and compact instrument. The chorus was rather catchy as well and was more upbeat than the first two indie rock tunes. There’s an emotional vulnerability in some of Friend Of Franky’s material and one example is the next selection ‘Too Cool’, which Kit informs us is their most gay song and is about “gay panic”. It would be nice to know the lyrics for this tune so that I can understand this condition further, as having briefly trawled through the internet, there are a number of juxtaposition answers that massively contradict each other. Anyway, back to the tune and it’s here in the set that I notice that Kit’s vocals are not that far off Dolores O’Riordan (RIP) from The Cranberries.
For selection five, ‘Windowsill’, Kit sat on the floor and brought the tempo right down for this “slow, sad song”, adding that it was written after Kit had someone leave that they thought that they never would, and so this self healing track was delivered with true emotion. Drummer Phil switched from drums to drumpads, which I’m a real sucker for, and Viv gave out some echoey bass, whilst Anna plucked the Fender. The penultimate track was ‘Hate You’ and I was pondering whether this too might have been aimed at the girl that had left Kit’s life or not. But this has the feel of an upbeat number, so it might not all be bad? The assortment of styles was again shown, when Kit announced that their closing number is a cover of a Chappell Roan tune, namely, ‘Pink Pony Club’. With lyrics including “Pink Pony Club; I’m gonna keep on dancing at the; Pink Pony Club; I’m gonna keep on dancing down in; West Hollywood…”, it’s full of innuendo and obviously nothing to do with actual horse-riding. Kit’s vocals were the most powerful here for this song and not surprisingly at its conclusion, the band were rewarded with many whoops and screams.
Friend Of Franky:
Kit Madge (they/he) – vocals
Anna Rees (they/them) – guitar and vocals
Viv Maher (she/her) – bass
Phil Shambrook (he/him) – drums
Friend Of Franky setlist:
‘Be Bad’
‘Pretty’
‘Rose In A Box’
‘Too Cool’
‘Windowsill’
‘Hate You’
‘Pink Pony Club’ (Chappell Roan cover)
