Naoise Roo (Photo: Remy Connolly)
Naoise Roo, 'Sheets', (video: Remy Connolly)
Info: To celebrate the launch of her new single, 'For You', from the upcoming album Lilith, Naoise Roo headed up proceedings at The Workman's Club last night with support coming from bands Slouch and Segrasso as well as singer Aoife Underwater. Aside from perusing the tracks on Roo's SoundCloud page before the show, I was going into the night with no knowledge of the other acts which were in support, something I generally avoid but thankfully it made no difference to my enjoyment of the evening. Slouch kicked things off with a short but rocking set, and they were followed by the highly energetic Aoife Underwater who had a strong stage presence ably backed up by her electro-pop musicians.
Segrasso, 'Cell'
From early on in the night and between the acts there was much anticipation and talk about Dublin / Wicklow band Segrasso who are managed by Saul Philbin Bowman, and along with Naoise Roo are on Callum Browne's Little L Records Label. It's interesting today listening to some of the tracks on their Bandcamp page and how mellow and tripped out they come across, had I listened to them before last night I would have had an expectation of a cool yet moody live performance. The band dipped their toes nicely between shoe gaze sounds and all out stage destruction, it was a pretty blistering performance, they reminded me a bit of My Bloody Valentine and Ride but with added controlled anarchy and distortion on stage. With their second E.P. due for release soon I expect they will garner a bigger profile based on last night's performance and their debut E.P. which I recommend you listen to here http://segrasso.bandcamp.com/.
Segrasso (Photo: Remy Connolly)
For Naoise Roo I definitely got more than I expected, after the Segrasso mania I thought the night would slow down slightly and we would be treated to velvet vocals and an old world jazz sound, wrong. Although her and her band did have moments of calm they also rocked out and completely lifted the audience, it was a highly enjoyable and special performance. I posted last night on social media that I was blown away to the extent that it was the best live performance I've seen since John Grant in The Olympia last year, that may sound like gratuitous hyperbole but in the cold light of day it still stands. Maybe one or two out of every live shows you go to you feel genuinely elevated by it afterwards, if you're lucky, and that is how I felt after last night, that you almost inhaled the experience and it lasted long after the show had ended. Roo played a mix of old songs such as the wonderful 'Sheets' above and tracks from her soon to be released album, Lilith. 'Whore', and new single 'For You' being particularly memorable. Be sure to catch one of the best Irish solo artists of the moment out live if you get the chance and you certainly won't be disappointed, with Lilith out on the 27th of April more dates will follow between now and then which I'll give the heads up on when confirmed.
Naoise Roo, 'For You'
(Naoise Roo)
Bookface: https://www.facebook.com/naoiseroo
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/naoise-roo
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaoiseRoo
(Segrasso)
Bookface: https://www.facebook.com/SegrassoOfficial
Bandcamp: http://segrasso.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Segrasso1
