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Sam McKie reviews Mark Morriss, Folk at Forty One with support from Brodie Milner and Rebecca Rudd. 4th September, 2014. Photos by Sam McKie.
Folk at Forty One is a relatively new periodical show organised by Screaming Tarts. It’s hosted in the small concert room at the back of Hotel Forty One; a nice modern bar on Driffield’s high street. The room seemed a little clinical at first, but the small and perfectly formed stage and lighting setup really looked the part.
First up was Driffield based singer songwriter Rebecca Rudd. Taking her place on stage, she seemed slightly shy but excited. Introducing her set by saying “This set is about my journey, from who I thought I should be, to who I am.”
Her first song ‘Taking the Lead’ was a confident number, about becoming a more sincere person. The style was nice and gentle, the song well-structured with solid lyrics. Miss Rudd’s voice was rich – I think reviews are known to use the term “whiskey” in describing such tones – the notes well controlled and accented in a traditional singer-songwriter manner. I got a hint of New Yorker Jazz style, perhaps inspired by the likes of Norah Jones.
‘The Hunger’ was darker, a more ambiguous song, showing her writing isn’t limited to cheerful confident tunes. This and ‘Moving on Out’ had an undisputable American Country vibe to them; this contrasted well with the feel of the aforementioned tunes. The guitar playing was nice and simple, the rhyme strong; perhaps some alternating thumb or three finger style would add to the songs.
I enjoyed her set, finding out later this was in fact Rebecca’s first proper gig, which is really rather impressive. She has a nice confident look and an honest set of catchy songs. It would be great to hear some of her music online, let’s hope she can arrange a few more gigs. A line from her penultimate song sums up her positive set nicely: “cheer up and show us your pearly whites.”
Next up is Brodie Milner. The crowd hushed as he started a gentle finger picked intro, ringing out under the blue and red lights. The complex finger picking climbing the fret board, suddenly the strident chords of the dark country-esque song ‘Bleak Weather Blues’ echoed. It is a fast and bouncy number with flashes of reference to deeper lyrics. It finished with a hearty applause.
Brodie seemed polite and reserved, simply introducing the next song as “a Dylan Cover.” It was a cool Anglicised version of “Girl from the North Country”, a modern American folk classic from the 60’s. But I was pleased to hear him play so many originals over the course of his set. ‘Acheron’ particularly, was a nice chordy piece, slightly jazzy and alternative in nature, a swinging bias to the rhythm.
‘Seaborne Town’ was a favourite of mine that evening. The lyrics grew and faded in their mystery. Brodie has a clear voice, influenced by modern and older styles, but always with a measure of his honest accent. The writing is of a high standard, personal sometimes, abstract at others, the guitar playing skilled and quite varied.
He finished with ‘Now I See’ which seems to have some nice literary reference and an original slap style finger picking. In all he played a great set of quietly dark songs; each gave a different vibe and the performance felt tight and professional. The audience listened intently throughout and enthusiastically applauded this skilled musician, who I feel deserves wider recognition.
Mark Morriss jovially took to the stage, kicking off with ‘It’s Hard To Be Good All the Time’, the chords create a sadness to the song, his eyes glinting in the lights adding to the heartfelt nature, something that struck me last time I head the song live, too.
He sipped his wine, slowing getting more comfortable with the audience, playing ‘Bluetonic’, a classic from back in the Bluetones days. The full-sounding guitar is relatively simple, but very effective – the song well written, including a nice minor to major key change. The nostalgic Britpop tune went down particularly well with the applauding crowd.
His vocals were high in tone, very skilled – clearly he’s a seasoned professional, the accent was very natural, notably similar to his talking voice. I am sure I’m not the first to notice comparisons with James Blunt, though it is worth considering Mr Morriss has been in the music trade for a decade longer than Captain Blunt. Some may accuse his guitar playing of being basic, however the rhythm was excellent and I think the simple guitar style belies a very competent hand.
He sipped a bit more wine, joking “I’m not as drunk as you lot – that bothers me!” Next he played a more modern number, ‘This is the Lie (And That’s the Truth)’ and his first solo single ‘I’m Sick’ – the former has a great fidgety rhythm and folky tinge, it gets the audience softly singing along, which is good. The look and feel of the stage made the performance somehow feel bigger than the venue; as if Mark Morriss was performing to hundreds.
He told us to expect a cover album early next year and the eleventh song, ‘Duchess’, was from this. He finished with a nostalgic sing-along number from back-in-the-day, before wrapping up the evening with an encore of ‘Rio’ by Duran Duran.
I believe the audience had a very entertaining evening, his banter with the crowd is legendary and gave a great edge of amusement to proceedings; at one point he described it as “hipster panto.” The songs were performed very professionally, the style varying between singer-songwriter, Britpop and folk. The whole night was competently run, lighting and sound were great though the latter perhaps slightly tinny. The three acts worked quite well together and there wasn’t a dissonant note all evening.
