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December 7, 2016

ALBUM: Direction of Travel – She Makes War

Words by Ed King / Gig pic by Claire Leach

April, the month of ‘openings’ according to the Romans – sandwiched in between the God of War and the Goddess of Growth. And apparently it snows, sometimes.

April 2016 saw the release of She Makes War’s third album, Direction of Travel – a glorious 12 track battle cry to love, family, resilience, and the threat of an angry girlfriend (or case of herpes) coming to settle the score.

Self-produced, She Makes War’s third album is a step up from its predecessors – built on rich bedrock of melody, mischievous lyrics and unflinching self-analysis. It sounds great too; recorded in part at Laura Kidd’s home (she who is She Makes War) and in part at J&J’s Recording Studio in Bristol.

In our interview with Laura Kidd she professed wanting to make the album ‘of a high quality but I didn’t want it to be about perfection – I wanted it to feel like something happened’. And that it does; Direction of Travel wears its heart on its sleeve in a fun, challenging and ultimately endearing way.

Plus the opening track is a ball grabbing corker – ‘Drown Me Out’ is a driven rock thumper, a melancholic call to arms wrapped around a simply addictive chorus. And you know one of the lines already, so sing along.

‘Cold Shoulder’ is the first playful dig at crap lovers, something She Makes War might become synonymous with if a few more February 14ths go sour. But if you’re going to do it then you do it like this; punky, unabashed, by the time the second line has been spat out you know right where you are. Plus the line I referenced earlier (beginning of the second verse) still makes me laugh and I’ve been playing it near on repeat.

A further high point comes from the subtle acoustic soul search of ‘Paper Thin’, which not only puts this trite metaphor to fresh use (not easy) but also has Tanya Donelly on backing vocals. Result. ‘Stargazing’ tells a soft lament of lost love with a beautiful string section adornment – Laura Kidd again composing beyond her own head.

‘Time to Change’ is a cracking, jangly jaunt on ukulele, and whilst the additional vocals from Mark Chadwick don’t work for me I’m sure the distinctive The Levellers front man will be a draw for some. Darker moments come in the Lynch-esque walk through psychosis and dependency in ‘Turning to You’, the brooding intent of ‘In Cold Blood’, and the inherently personal tale of family fears in ‘Please Don’t’ – a track written when Laura Kidd’s father was seriously ill.

Then there’s the final track on Direction to Travel, ‘The Best’. Listen to it after listening to the entire album and make you own minds up. But, to me, the uplifting lullaby exit on Direction of Travel is a simple stroke of brilliance, right down to the stripped back final fifteen seconds.

As a rule I look for counterpoints but it’s genuinely hard to do here. And whilst I’d cite ‘Alone’ and ‘5000 Miles’ as the weaker moments on the album – less fully filled out songs, but ideas that became more than a motif – this is in the face of stiff competition. The first half of Direction to Travel is noticeably stronger so maybe track listing could be another negative. There’s a couple of cloying lyrics in there too, but I’m reaching here. Maybe my heart just isn’t good enough to do amazing things.

If you’re a fan of She Makes War you’re going to, quite rightly, love this album – Kidd’s first two LPs feel now like they were always alluding to this release. If you’ve never heard of this Bristol based polymath, then this is pretty much the most perfect introduction.

And if you get the ‘rare chance’ to see She Makes War perform this with a full band… one of the best encores I’ve seen in years. I hugged the guitarist.

‘Drown Me Out’ – She Makes War

To read Ed King’s INTERVIEW with She Makes War, click here.

To Read Billy Beale’s BREVIEW of She Makes War at The Sunflower Lounge, click here.

To see Claire Leach’s full Flickr of pics from The Sunflower Lounge gig, click here.

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Direction of Travel was released in April 2016, via State51 Conspiricy. For more on She Makes War, including online purchase points to Laura Kidd’s full back catalogue, visit www.shemakeswar.com

December 7, 2016December 7, 2016

THE GALLERY: She Makes War @ Sunflower Lounge 22.11.16

Pics by Claire Leach

On Tuesday 22^nd November, She Makes War (aka Laura Kidd) came to The Sunflower Lounge – performing both a solo show and a full band set, in ‘An Evening with She Makes War’.

Luckless was also on the bill, playing in between the solo/full band incarnations of She Makes War. PJ Harvey with a loop pedal, Luckless is originally from New Zealand but now lives and writes from Berlin – which makes a short jaunt round the UK a little less of a logistical problem.

Birmingham was the first to host ‘An Evening with She Makes War’, with two further events planned in London and Bristol. Having released her third studio album in April this year, Direction of Travel, She Makes War presented a cherry picked set of old and new. And yes, the megaphone came out to play.

Birmingham Review descended en mass to The Sunflower Lounge. To read Ed King’s interview with Laura Kidd, click here. To read Billy Beale’s review of the gig(s), click here. And to see more of Claire Leach’s pics, all you have to do is look down (or click on the links for the full Flickr of pics).

She Makes War (solo set) @ Sunflower Lounge 22.11.16 / Claire Leach

Luckless – supporting She Makes War @ Sunflower Lounge 22.11.16 / Claire Leach

She Makes War (full band set) @ Sunflower Lounge 22.11.16 / Claire Leach

For more on She Makes War, visit www.shemakeswar.com

For more on Luckless, visit www.luckless.co.nz

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

December 7, 2016December 7, 2016

BREVIEW: She Makes War @ Sunflower Lounge 22.11.16

Words by Billy Beale / Pics by Claire Leach

Laura Kidd, better known as She Makes War, started her limited run of full-band shows at Birmingham’s Sunflower Lounge to tie in with the release of new single ‘Stargazing’ and to showcase some all-new material.

Kidd, in all her talents, is shouldering most of the responsibility this evening. Not only has she written the music, produced her newest album (Direction of Travel, released back in April ‘16) and assembled a band, she is also the promoter for this event, driver for the tour, and tonight’s opening act. She even managed to make time to chat with us about touring, her do-it-yourself ethos and why she is so fond of Birmingham.

“I used to play acoustic when I was shit,” Kidd’s opening solo set is relaxed, personal and intimate. Her self-deprecation is not an uncomfortable plea for mercy from the crowd, but a way of showing how confident she is in how far she has come. Songs like‘Delete Myself’ explore the mire of breaking up in the digital age; Kidd layers her sweet voice over itself, creating ethereal gentle rhythms pierced by the siren of a megaphone. It marks a more experimental point in a set of earnest and revealing songwriting.

Luckless is the next act and the stage name for Ivy Rossiter. Coming to us from New Zealand via Berlin, Luckless is a friend and fan of tonight’s headliner. Where Kidd kept picking up and putting down anything with strings on it, Luckless sticks with a single old Japanese guitar with a rich, full tone.

Her sound is based around looping different electric guitar sounds, using different pedals to construct a rich foundation for her warm, powerful voice. Only once did the looping method go wrong and she was fighting against some messy sounds, but that was one misstep in an otherwise slick set.

For the full She Makes War trio, Laura Kidd picks up a bass guitar – the only thing on stage that she hasn’t already made use of – and looks out through glam-rock eye makeup over her mic. Together, the three range from dark and atmospheric to pounding riffs and squealing solos.

This is not what her previous set would lead you to expect at all. This is an altogether different side to She Makes War, something between the grand vision of her recorded output and the intimacy of her solo performance. It has the power and punch of a slick single with the raw edges of a stripped-back live setup.

The sonic landscape is dominated by the heavy guitar sound, “he does have Jonny Greenwood’s hair” says Kidd of her bandmate. He’s got Greenwood’s sound, too; the nasal jangle from ‘My Iron Lung’ features more than once tonight and Radiohead’s influence on the ensemble sound is obvious on songs like ‘Weary Bird’. When things get heavy, they sound like Smashing Pumpkins if they’d had a Riot Grrrl vocalist. In the quieter moments, the sparse guitar makes room for Kidd’s lilt to take the focus.

The main problem with the full trio is that Laura Kidd’s voice – and, in a lot of ways, the songs themselves – get a bit lost amongst the raucous cacophony of chunky riffs and pounding beats. Her sweet and melodic vocals feel better suited to the smaller acoustic singer/songwriter setting, or the Metric-style fusion of trip-hop and indie pop in some of her recorded material. To be fair to Kidd, she did mention she was suffering with a cold and qualified that “[she hates] when singers say ‘oh, I’m sorry, I have a cold’”. Given that fact, she did an excellent job.

When Laura Kidd is alone and in full control – even with limited equipment – it is evident that she is an artist with a grand vision and the technical know how to make it a reality. When she gives up some of that control, the pieces just don’t fit together as well as they should.

For more on She Makes War, visit www.shemakeswar.com

For more on Luckless, visit www.luckless.co.nz

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

November 21, 2016

BPREVIEW: She Makes War @ Sunflower Lounge 22.11.16

Words by Ed King

On Tuesday 22^nd November, She Makes War (aka Laura Kidd) comes to Birmingham – presenting ‘An Evening With…’ ate Sunflower Lounge. She Makes War will be headlining the night with a full band set, alongside support slots from Luckless and Laura Kidd as a solo performer.

Doors open at 7:30pm with an 11pm curfew. Tickets are priced at £8 (advance) – as presented by My Big Sister. For direct gig info and online ticket sales, click here.

Last time Birmingham Review saw She Make War was as support for Carina Round at the Hare & Hounds in June, bringing a sense of joy to an otherwise depressingly flat evening. Sorry Carina, we f*ing love you but…

She Makes War braved out a broken leg that night to bring us an awesome solo show and endearingly endearing on stage banter (remember Ms Kidd has penned and performed an hour long love lament at the Edinburgh Fringe, the subtly titled one woman show Shit Girlfriend).

We’d missed her previous gig at Ort in May, but the ball of excitement about She Makes War’s third studio album – Direction of Travel (out on The state51 Conspiracy) – had been bouncing around our editorial HQ since April. Finally getting to see some of it on stage was a huge Brucey Bonus.

Now the ‘queen of gloom pop’ is back in Birmingham for ‘An Evening with She Makes War’ at The Sunflower Lounge on Tues 22^nd November. And this time she’s brought her band, alongside another one woman music machine – Luckless. We are most excited.

Meanwhile back at the ranch… She Makes War released her third studio album, Direction of Travel, in April this year – the bio of which reads like a litany of my early indie rock ideals. Always good to see Tanya Donelly’s name on an album. But the whole of Direction of Travel is a pretty special endevour; a bold and beautifully vulnerable affair, shifting from the tougher edges to the softer centre of this absurdly versatile artist. The kind of game changer you want to see in the The Sunflower Lounge too.

We’re kinda hooked for now, with songs to both challenge and comfort across the 12 track LP. Loads to choose from, but see what you make of this pretty little love dissection below. ‘What’s coming for me…’

‘Cold Shoulder’ / She Makes War

‘An Evening with She Make War’ comes The Sunflower Lounge on Tues 22^nd November – presenting both solo and full band sets from She Makes War, alongside further support from Luckless. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on She Makes War, visit www.shemakeswar.com

For more on Luckless, visit www.luckless.co.nz

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com