– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER –

So it is Easter Sunday and I am waiting. Jesus did a lot of waiting, but on Easter Sunday he spectacularly came back to Earth and most people turned around and said, “Oh… well that was worth the wait.” So you see it is good to make people wait, it gets them excited. The Ruby Lounge is a great atmosphere to linger in, a basement club with low lighting and ruby walls; it is half cosy pub and half spacious live music venue. The floor is filling up fast, and people are snuggling up on the sofas as the romantic lighting emits its magic.

We are being treated to three support acts before the headliners Slow Club emerge. The first one is Song for Walter, a quaint acoustic band playing academic folk. Next is the antithesis of quiet folk, as Pins are an all female punk band that are heavy on aggression and noise. Lastly, Michele Stodart- from the Magic Numbers- introduces us to her new solo material, which is gentle but confident.

By 10:20pm the audience are ready for Slow Club to slide on. Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor have been Slow Club since 2006, hailing from the South Yorkshire land of Sheffield Charles Watson is the bearded blues guitarist, whereas Rebecca Taylor is the blond-haired siren who alternates between playing the guitar, sitting down and playing the drums and standing up and playing the drums. Both of them sing, and together they make melodic, slow-building rock songs. Their harmonies are chemical, they fuse so beautifully together to produce a new element. The song, ’Never Look Back,’ displays this at its most symbiotic. Rebecca has stated that a dramatic harmony makes her feel like, “I’m on Pride Rock from the Lion King,” and she has such an attractive commanding presence on stage, her eyes seductively observing the gathering.

The songs are percussive and energetic, and injected with a strong dose of fun. The outstanding quality of Slow Club’s music is a beautiful dynamic between whispered and loud harmonies, wild drum beating and crying voices. You could hear a pin tap the ground as Rebecca confidently says, “you paid £8 or whatever, so shut up and listen”. She beautifully sings ‘Hackney Marsh’, a song about doubt, and as Charles joins for the chorus, they ask, “could it last?” The concert ends with the pulsating, ‘If We’re Still Alive’. A piggy-back riding saxophone player joins us in the audience, proving that Slow Club are a band of humour and personality, a band that after you watch, you turn to say, “Well that was pretty good wasn’t it!”.