Tuesday 16th July 2009 @ The Fleece, Bristol

A smiling Lisa Hannigan comes onstage dressed beautifully like the baker’s daughter and with a mug tea in hand, looking every bit as peaceful, dreamy and charming as all her press images and website photos would have us believe. What I wasn’t prepared for though was the sheer captivating delight of this 28 year-old folk songstress’ voice. I’ve listened extensively to her debut album, Sea Sew, and though her voice is soft and very appealing on record, live it is a new being. It’s a voice which enraptured the sold out Fleece instantly; so deep, so soulful, so warm. It might be a cliché but hers truly is a voice to get lost in. Behind her was a four-man-band that gave real body to her charming folk songs and perfectly followed her lead with a combination of double bass, drums, keyboard, guitar, backing vocals and some stunningly subtle use of xylophone and triangle.

You’d be forgiven for thinking Lisa Hanningan and her band of sharply dressed folksters had been recording and touring together for decades; their sound is so textured, perfectly layered and of the highest quality. The compositions are tight and the choices of instruments used showed an expert’s ear but in fact they’ve only recently put out a debut album and tonight was their very first performance in Bristol.

Lisa Hannigan live is completely captivating. It was so easy to get caught in her spell that the audience for long periods forgot to dance and move, only showing they were still breathing with a bit of gentle swaying. The wide smiles and thunderous roars of appreciation that followed each and every track however showed how completely engaged and in love with her everyone was. No-one was moving, that is, apart, of course, from Big Jeff in the front row. Once Lisa and co. had been pleasantly demanded back onstage for an encore, she introduced herself to Bristol’s human metronome and told him that he’d made her night! Good lad.

www.lisahannigan.ie

Matt Whittle