Incredibly, this is my first time at Electric; the venue that resides where The Fridge once stood. I played The Fridge many moons ago but I have to admit Electric is an improvement. Airy, with several levels, my friend and I are able to grab a perfect spot on the upper balcony. It is sold out tonight on the final date of English Teacher’s first headline UK tour and it is fun watching the downstairs filling with people from our vantage point.

First up we have Mary In The Junkyard. The London trio have come a long way in what seems like a very short time and it is fitting that they should play the final tour date here in Brixton where they cut their teeth to a great extent with multiple performances at The Windmill. With just three singles and EPs, all released in less than a year, they already have over 80K monthly Spotify listeners and clearly have momentum. They are produced by XL founder Richard Russell and they record for AMF Records. Describing their music as Experimental Rock or, as they told Daze magazine, ‘angry, weepy, chaos rock’, the trio consists of Clari Freeman-Taylor (Guitar, Bass Guitar & Vocals); Saya Barbaglia (Bass Guitar & Viola) and David Addison (Drums).

It is a strange and somewhat frustrating truth that, going back to when I was 14 years old watching Punk gigs at Hemel Hempstead Pavilion, there has been a long-time tradition of the sound engineer doing the support acts few favours and then magically producing considerably better sound quality for the headliners. It is actually disrespectful not only to the support band but also to the audience but it is a thing nevertheless and one that occurs far too frequently for it to be a coincidence. This despite not one but three beautiful looking digital PA desks in operation!

Despite the slightly muddier sound on the vocal mic and an iffy balance between the vocals and instruments in general, it is to Mary In The Junkyard’s great credit that they still pull off a fine performance. They open with the single Ghost with its picking guitar and semi-yodel vocal intro. It is a strong start and scene setter. Guitar legend Robin Trower said, in an interview I recently watched, that he always chose to work with trios because he liked the danger of being that bit more exposed and everyone having to work a little harder. Those words ring true in relation to Mary In The Junkyard. Clari’s ability to deliver her distinctive and dexterous soprano range vocals while playing intricate guitar parts is matched by Saya’s inventive bass and viola playing while David is a thoughtful drummer whose dynamic control emphasises the contrasts in their music.

Clari’s voice is slightly ethereal. At times I hear echoes of iconic singers like Tanya Donnelly, Harriet Wheeler and even a sprinkling of Dolores O’Riordan. Their music sits somewhere between shoegazey Dream Pop and Post Rock although neither of those tags would adequately summarise their sound. One song in, Clari switches to Bass Guitar and Saya switches to Viola and they demonstrate both their versatility and the ability to wring so much creativity out of a sparse instrumental combination. Clari also uses different tunings on the guitar, producing some jangling extended chord and arpeggio play.

The interband chemistry is evident from the outset and their ability to shift effortlessly between different timings and configurations is amply exhibited on tracks like Marble Arch and Goop with its trilling and tremolo Viola and stop-start structure. The audience responds enthusiastically to their committed, captivating performance. Tonight has been a triumphant taster of what is to come because, this time next year, it may well be Mary In The Junkyard who are closing out a headline tour back in South London.

For English Teacher, the past year has been huge and they recently released their debut album This Could Be Texas. The Leeds quartet of Lily Fontaine (Vocals, Guitar & Keyboards); Lewis Whiting (Guitar & Keyboards); Nicholas Eden (Bass Guitar) and Douglas Frost (Drums & Keyboards) are augmented tonight by an electric Cellist whose name I have been struggling to find out from articles and web pages but her rich tones add so much to the music.

The band are in an exuberant mood, clearly lapping up the love from the London crowd and enjoying this being the last night of the tour. When Lily tells us this is the biggest audience they have ever played to, there is an approving roar from the fans. Tonight is very much a showcase of the album. Broken Biscuits, Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space and I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying are all striking. There is a lot of instrument swapping in their set. Lily and Lewis both switch between guitar and keyboard, the Cellist also plays keyboard and, midway through, Douglas abandons the drumkit to play keys on a number of tracks and they prove they can still fill the room with their sound minus drums. As with Mary In The Junkyard, English Teacher benefit from excellent musicianship.

They save the best for last though with storming renditions of Albert Road, recent single R&B (a song I know my wife would relate to with Lily’s lyric about how, despite being a young black woman and people’s tiresome assumptions, she does not have the voice for R&B!) and the anthemic Nearly Daffodils. At one point, having invited the audience to come closer to the stage so that ‘I can dance with you’, Lily climbs down into the audience and crowd surfs on her back, trusting the fans to carry her. It is a great moment that encapsulates the bond between audience and band.

If I have a particular criticism of English Teacher, it is that I sometimes feel they don’t get the balance right between spoken word and singing. Lily has a great, powerful and highly distinctive singing voice and I wish she would use it just a little more. But it’s a minor point in the scheme of things. This has been an impressive and invigorating performance, rounded off by an encore and more band-audience engagement. Both bands have delivered the goods in a venue I definitely look forward to coming back to soon.

English Teacher
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Mary In The Junkyard
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