Category: BR Content

Rae Morris comes back to Birmingham on Thursday Feb 5^th, playing the upstairs Temple room at the Institute – with support from Fryars. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets were £11advance, but at the time of writing this gig has been billed as Sold Out. Kudos.

(We last covered Rae Morris, playing back in the Institute’s Temple room, on April 29^th 2014 – read Jay Airey’s Birmingham Review here)

Rae Morris has been bubbling around the live circuits for several years, cutting her ivory teeth in the working men’s clubs of red & white roses – with Blackpool as her hallowed home ground. Mentored in music (and possibly hair) by another formidable voice from the autonomous city of bright lights, Karima Francis, Ms Morris found her force behind keys not string.

With a powerful voice, twisted pen, and a gift for delivering low lament melodies, the shouts of the precocity that followed Rae Morris were increasingly well deserved. This was indeed an artist worth some attention; another pat on the back from the label that brought us The Staves, Alt-J, Clean Bandit & Vance Joy.

Morris’s debut major label single, Don’t Go, was released through Atlantic (UK) in March 2012 – preceding a short flurry of piano led EPs on the same imprint: For You (2012), Grow (2012), From Above (2013).

And not one to be stuck in doors for too long Rae Morris continued a fairly rigorous touring schedule – playing her own headline dates, whilst also supporting the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, Tom Odell and Lianne La Havas.

Then in autumn (I think) 2013 the debut album was announced, originally set for release in summer 2014. Having been slightly overwhelmed by some of Morris’s previous EP tracks, Way Back When & Grounded in particular, the thought of twelve tracks in a row was…  well, let’s just say the Birmingham Review expenses card was put on DEFCON 4.

‘The first glimpse of her new material’ came in the guise of Skin, released as a free download in Feb 2014; slick, polished, subtle, sadly clandestine keys – read the Birmingham Review of Skin here.

Talk of LA producers flowed, of fruitful collaborations, a surge of excitable industry seemed to step up in support; and as momentum gathered for Ms Morris more sentiments of ‘things to come’ and ‘new direction’ seemed to pepper the promotional Rae rhetoric. All we needed now was the album. Unguarded, the fabled debut, eventually came out in January 2015 – followed by somewhat fawning support from some of the more questionable pundits of the day.

But a lot to look out for, and Rae Morris is not to be underestimated or sold off as cheap – as some of the more garrulous junk bond traders circling around her have been known to do before. Unguarded could be the next rising move of someone clever enough to stick around for a good few years yet.

But the proof is often live, so we’ll just have to smuggle our way into the Institute (and up all them naffing stairs) to find out first hand. Let the ghosts of fallen egos and fashionable addictions be cleansed from the halls – there’s some serious potential playing around here somewhere. TBC.

Rae Morris’s comes back to the Institute on February 5^th – with support from Fryars, playing her first Birmingham gig since the release of Unguarded. Ed King will be there for a Birmingham Review.

For more gig info, visit http://theinstitutebirmingham.com/listings/upcoming-events/17279/rae-morris/

N.B. And in case you missed it, at the time of writing the Rae Morris gig on Feb 5^th is billed as Sold Out – please check your local ticket sellers (the official ones, not Cortina Bob) for further details.

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For more on Rae Morris, visit http://www.raemorris.co.uk/

For more from Atlantic Records, visit http://www.atlanticrecords.com/

For further listings from the Institute, visit http://theinstitutebirmingham.com/listings

Words by Ceri Black / Pics by Paul Reynolds

I last saw The Ordinary Boys in 2011 for their Maybe Somebody tour, a supposed farewell and UK wide chance for their loyal fans to say goodbye to a band they’d loved for nearly a decade.

Fast forward three years and The Ordinary Boys are back, with new songs, a new member (Louis Jones of Indie band Spectral) and a new tour. I’m back too; this time at the Hare & Hounds, to watch The Ordinary Boys (hopefully) re-ignite the fervour I’ve seen them play with on many occasions before.

Opening with classic songs ‘Over the Counter Culture’ followed by ‘Talk Talk Talk’, the crowd’s spirits (which were dampened by the idea of being out on a Sunday) appeared to pick up.

There was cheering, I’m pretty sure someone was dancing right at the front, and although the numbers were small the band seemed genuinely pleased to see at least some people in the audience. Frontman Preston charmed us with stories about nothing, even joining in with the hecklers and adding to an already relaxed atmosphere.

But for such an established venue as the Hare & Hounds the sound quality was, for the best part of the set, disappointing. Preston’s vocals in their new single ‘Awkward’ were drowned in a muffled mess of bass, making this comeback track unfortunately live up to its name.

Thankfully though all sound issues appeared to have been sorted (or forgotten) when Ranking Jr of The Beat joined The Ordinary Boys on stage – performing a great rendition of their mega hit, and definite crowd pleaser, ‘Boys Will Be Boys’.

But after the set ended, being rounded off with a tribute to The Ramones, I couldn’t help but feel that The Ordinary Boys should maybe have left on a high note back in 2011.

Despite being devoted I’m not convinced that The Ordinary Army, or even ordinary fans, are ready to embrace the band’s new material. Perhaps, in the end, a ‘reunion’ tour would’ve been more appropriate.

For more on The Ordinary Boys, visit https://www.facebook.com/TheOrdinaryBoysOfficial

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For more from the Hare & Hounds, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/

For more from Birmingham Promoters, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/