THISTLE. + GOODBYE + AIN’T + CARNE – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 18.6.25
Local promoters Hidden Herd returned to The Hope & Ruin on Wednesday night with another quality and varied line up of new and upcoming artists, which included local Brighton bands CARNE and goodbye and the exciting Londoners Ain’t and Northampton’s thistle.
With a change to the running order, South London band Ain’t opened Wednesday night’s feast of live music. Ain’t’s sound brings together 90s guitar, post-punk and shoegaze.
At the start, singer Hanna Baker Darch introduced themselves as “We’re 3/5ths of Ain’t.” She was joined at The Hope and Ruin by Ed Randall and George Ellerby on guitars. She went on to explain that the other members of the band, Joe Lockstone (drums) and Chapman Ho (bass) were unable to make the event due to illness. Hence the change in running order and a stripped back set.
Ain’t started with two unreleased songs, ‘Fish Tank’ and ‘Arms’. Clear from the start was the quality of Hanna’s vocals, often with a dreamy quality that rose beautifully with the music. ‘Fish Tank’ featured a sliding technique by one of the guitarists, which gave the song a feel similar to ‘Fade Into You’ by Mazzy Star. It was the first time they had played ‘Arms’ live. Its laid back understated yet quality guitars gave space for Hanna’s vocals to shine.
As Ain’t couldn’t play all the songs they had planned without a full band, it was a hastily reworked set, and they filled in with some amusing anecdotes. As well as the usual story from visiting bands about ferocious seagulls stealing their food, we heard of some of the more bizarre passengers on the train from London.
Back to the music. ‘Jude’ featured a good dual vocal, while Hanna put even more emotion into her voice on ‘April’. Hanna was getting more animated on the instrumental parts with low key dancing as their set progressed.
Before their closing number ‘Pirouette’, Hanna joked “We’ve one more song in the same format.” In the lyrics of ‘Pirouette’, Hanna asks “Does this entertain you?”. I, and I think it’s fair to say all those there early at Hidden Herd’s event, were very entertained by Ain’t’s rearranged stripped back set.
At the end Hanna said “We’ve been A I N without the apostrophe and T”. After their enjoyable reworked set, I hope Ain’t return to Brighton with their full band in the near future.
Ain’t:
Hanna Baker Darch – vocals
Ed Randall – guitar
George Ellerby – guitar and vocals
(not present):
Joe Lockstone – drums
Chapman Ho – bass guitar
Ain’t setlist:
‘Fish Tank’
‘Arms’
‘Jude’ (a 2025 single release)
‘April’
‘Pirouette’ (a 2025 single release)
Second up was Brighton four-piece Carne (stylised as CARNE), a new quartet redefining and reviving the raw sounds of 90s grunge and rock. Emerging from multiple Brighton projects, Carne are Carmen Mellino (vocals and guitar), Milo Hill (guitar), Emia Demir (bass) and Joe McTaggart (drums).
Carne opened their set with ‘Vast’ which signalled their intent with their fast loud guitars and thumping drums from the very start. Carne mixed up their sound and Carmen her vocals across their lively set. Most notably on ‘Become Red’ which started as a solo by Carmen with Milo whistling along, and then ‘So Sad’ which was relatively lighter with a quiet close. The haunting effects at the start of ‘Polly’ gave that song a different and interesting feel. Throughout the set there were some very good bass lines from Emia.
