Since the late 90’s, musical descriptions have generally been a teenage mugging of adjectives and nouns. But Louise Petit’s self declared ‘Folk tinged alt-Pop loveliness’ is as appropriate as you can get.
The Staffordshire singer/songwriter first blipped onto Birmingham Review’s radar just under a year ago; again playing at Ort Café, Petit was out in the real world promoting her Make a House a Home EP – a live endevour, recorded at ‘a secret house concert’ in April ‘13. It was a beautiful England summer evening, and as the rain lashed down the urine/smog coating of a battered No50 – actually reaching the gig got harder and harder. 
It was Birmingham Review’s first coverage of Ort Café too, but by the time ‘soft’, ‘sincere’ and ‘red wine in a mug’ had been scribbled in a notebook (and our editor was safely tucked up in the venue’s last available chair) all was right with the world. There was even singing – and not just on stage.
Louise Petit and her accompaniment, Russ Sargeant (double bass/vocals)
and Tim Heymerdinger (percussion/vocals), are a joy to watch; refined and skillful in all the right places. Petit’s lyrics lift her once again above the current Folk fallacies, and despite a disturbing penchant for Yuletide knitwear her public portfolio to date has been pretty exemplary.
Plus she has an album out too – Louder Than Your Drum, which will most likely be the centrepiece to this year’s touring. So in short, you’d be pushed to find a better time to see Louise Petit perform or to see her perform again.
Read Birmingham Review previous coverage of Louise Petit:
Louise Petit @ Ort Café, Sat 10th Aug 2013
Louise Petit @ Ort Café, Sat 1st Mar 2014
Louise Petit will be supported by Jayne Powell and Daniel Sweeney – in a change from the previously booked Debbie Kate.
Jayne Powell last played at Ort Café on Friday 4th July, headlining with South Carolina’s Rachel & Friend in support. Powell had been on a ‘productive hiatus’ for a few years and is now back in the saddle after ‘setting up her power trio’.
Punching out Bluesy Americana, with a strong vocal lead that’s reminiscent (to us) of Aimee Mann (no bad thing), Powell has played with many of the great, good and good God not again of the Birmingham gig circuit – a bill with Louse Petit should be a memorable blend.
Daniel Sweeney is one third of Moseley’s Sylvia, who are currently working on their second album – scheduled for release later this year. Sylvia are a thoughtful withdrawal from the Pop/Blues/Folk/Monsters on the rest tonight’s bill, with Sweeney’s high end vocals leading their more delicate laments.
Not much more we can say on Sweeney as a solo artist, at this point, other than a strong suspicion that if autonomy’s going to work for him it’ll work at Ort Café.
Louise Petit return to Ort Café tonight, with support from Jayne Powell + Daniel Sweeney. Doors open at 8:30pm, admission is £5. For more info, visit http://ortcafe.co.uk/
*Ort Café closes from & including, 9th to 25th August
For more on Louise Petit, visit http://louisepetit.com/
For more on Jayne Powell, visit http://jaynepowell.co.uk/
For more on Sylvia/Daniel Sweeney, visit http://thisissylvia.com/