Live
VV Brown: Bush Hall - London 25/03/09
Vanessa Brown, the 24 year old English London based songstress is surely plotting her upward course. She has, evidently, come a long way since parting company with her former record company - returning to London from Los Angeles with little money two years ago.
NOW she has been widely tipped by music industry insiders as a future great... But before all that greatness can come to flurision – comes the hard work of actually getting there. And that involves playing at such unique stepping stones like the diminutive Bush Hall.
This is a venue that tends to sort the wheat from the chaff. And like many who have played previously, VV Brown was not the first to fall victim to the whims of the sound system, which had been excessively tuned and tinkered with for a future Channel 4 recording. The zealous pre-show sound-check did not prevent the mike from failing for the singer’s first number 'Crying Blood' and even then when vocal mike did come back on line, the booming sound from the band on the deeply funky edgy bass and an equally piercing treble balance threatened to drown the singer altogether on the aptly named next track 'Game Over' as VV tried to animate the crowd.
Not a very auspicious start but then something happened. As if suddenly coming out of a muffled fog, her voice, conveying in equal measure sweetness and drama, came shining through, to the train-like beat of 'Bottles'. This dramatic sentiment was also pushed much further in 'Back in Time' as the soulful drama ridden angst in her voice combined beautifully with the indie- rich minor chords on the keyboard that slid eloquently down the scale.
There were also more upbeat up-tempo numbers paying homage to the bubble-gum era of the 60’s such as the infuriatingly catchy 'Quick Fix', where all you wanted to do was to get down and Twist, as well as VV’s single Single of the Moment 'Leave'. What made VV’s 40 minutes set so endearing and original, though, was her style that encompassed so many genres and fusions of style. Nowhere was this demonstrated more so than with probably the most engaging version of The Smiths 'This Charming Man' that I have ever heard.
Though, this was probably not the best gig she has done to date in terms of sound quality, VV did all she could to engage with the small 200 person audience and nonetheless made this mid-week gig a very enjoyable one for a wizened old critic. I look forward to seeing her again in the future.
Words DARREN LEWIS
