Oporto Bar, Call Lane was the location for the final of Undiscovered: Leeds. I arrived during soundcheck where, from what I could hear, things were sounding promising. Everyone was rushing around, perhaps with nerves or the stress of pre-show but I could sense the underlying excitement in the air. Oporto is a trendy, although perhaps quite small, venue with American style diner décor mixed with bright French theatre wallpaper that gave the place a stylish feel. The Undiscovered banner hung to the left of the room decked out with all of tonight’s sponsors including, yours truly, Her Campus Leeds, The Ben Mannering Foundation, BigOnRoad Records, OPP Marketing and Leeds Student Radio.
First on the lineup was acoustic act Ella Rothwell singing with her guitarist Dan Tredgold. Her first song ‘Tiger Love’ showed off her deep husky voice that reminded me of singers such as Adele and Ella’s influence Suzanne Vega. Acoustically Ella is great although I couldn’t help think she’d sound brilliant with a backing band, especially in third song ‘Daydreamer’ – trumpet flourishes in the chorus and stings providing the grounding chords. Ella’s short and sweet set was concluded with the song ‘Old Friend’ that built gently with a finger picked guitar line rippling underneath as Ella’s vocals lift the song.
Seas-of-Green were next in line. I was under the impression there were seven members, however as far as I could see only four were onstage. Their set was a whirlwind of crazy, manic, psychedelic pop rock with the frontman, Alex Rushfirth, at times looking possessed and on occasion wailing just like a toddler having a tantrum. This certainly wasn’t a bad thing as he had the crowd captivated with his stage presence and between song humour, for instance: “This one’s about moving to the moon for tax reasons.” And even one song about “two kids who dress up in stripes and solve crimes, but they’re dyslexic.” Very random, but the fact that they didn’t seem to take themselves too seriously added to the performance. The dynamic variation was particularly notable; their set going from mellow to lively, that contained very percussive sections as well as a cappella vocals.
Second acoustic act of the night was Jack Haining. He was sat on a cajón (pronounced ka-hon), a box shaped percussion instrument played by slapping the front, which was an excellent addition to his set but meant that he was quite hard to see and slightly lost amongst the crowd. Drinks had been flowing steadily from the beginning of the evening which also meant that the audience were much more talkative resulting in Jack’s speaking between songs getting a little lost. His set was soft, folky pop that sounded very Ben Howard and Ed Sheeran-esque. After three songs he seemed to have finished although switched instead to an electric guitar heavily laden with effects. The sound he created was very gentle and atmospheric and the highlight of his set was when Jack was joined on stage with his sister Charlotte, whose high voice beautifully complemented his.
Fourth act of the evening were the multi-talented Jacobean Ruff who played a range of folky songs and changed instruments nearly every song. The five-piece collectively sang and played guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and cajón but swapped amongst themselves almost constantly proving their wonderful diversity and musicianship. During their set I overheard someone in the crowd behind me stating that “there isn’t a lot you can do with it, folk is folk.” However, I’d disagree and feel that Jacobean Ruff prove that the music can be a lot more than simply folk. The band had the usual folk rhythms but with their range of instruments they played around with their sound going from upbeat to relaxed, dynamic to laid back; I particularly enjoyed the cajón solo at the end!
Following Jacobean Ruff was solo performer Kate Ryrie who began her set facing a lively crowd but caught their attention with her beautiful voice. During her first song ‘Summer Rain’ I felt she held back her voice and only gave us glimpse of her range but once into the set she displayed her full potential, especially during the melismas in ‘In The Shadows’. All her songs were catchy with hooky choruses that I found myself humming and singing along to. I liked the way she introduced each song taking time in her set and interacting with the audience, particularly ‘Moving House’ which is about “having a breakdown over beanie babies”.
Wordy finished the evening and were a perfect way to round up. Their energetic set got everyone dancing, including the band members themselves who looked like they were having a brilliant time. Highlights of their set were definitely the bluesy, sultry guitar solos, alongside prominent basslines and a stomping beat. Frontwoman Caoimhe McEvoy had a brilliant voice, at one point sustaining four huge long notes, very impressive! Soon after Wordy had finished we had a short wait before the organisers and sponsors graced the stage to announce the winner. We were told it had been a very close decision but the judges had finally decided on Ella Rothwell.
Congratulations to Ella but also congratulations to all the other finalists who put on a fantastic evening and proved just how much undiscovered talent Leeds contains.
Undiscovered are working in conjunction with:
BigOnRoad Records – http://www.bigonroad.co.uk
The Ben Mannering Music Foundation – http://www.benmanning.org.uk/
Leeds Student Radio – http://lsrfm.com/
Her Campus Leeds – http://www.hercampus.com/leeds
Jessica Ktorou (graphic designer) – http://cargocollective.com/jessiemay
Gus Lane (graphic designer) – http://guslane.tumblr.com/
Opp Marketing – http://www.oppmarketing.co.uk/
And sponsored by Igma Imaging – http://igma-imaging.co.uk/
Image Sources:
1. Undiscovered – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=346769528769571&set=a.105847816195078.13531.105847589528434&type=1&theater
2. Ella Rothwell – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131432993594090&set=a.131432843594105.23604.131432733594116&type=1&theater
3. Jack Haining – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=390043641084028&set=a.367545486667177.93220.367538213334571&type=1&theater
4. Jacobean Ruff – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=255029844624875&set=a.145359448925249.27468.145269395600921&type=1&theater
5. Copyright Beth Murray – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=362428803846805&set=t.724613433&type=3&theater
6. Seas-of-Green – http://seas-of-green.bandcamp….
7. Wordy – https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=532259960151574&set=a.438391059538465.102943.437899699587601&type=1&theater