Delighted to bring you a great Mancunian double bill, the dreamy pop of Marie Franc supporting another real one to watch.. Georgian.Writing out of Manchester and recording in Amsterdam, Georgian’s output is a soft bloom of sullen 60s psychedelia and folk horror peppered with Southern Gothic inclinations. A dusky melancholia of nylon-string intimacy, flickering with ripples of Hammond organ and Leslie cabinets. Songs out of which her voice trickles like warm milk laced with poison; comforting but spiked with an intoxicating forlorn. Mournful and troubled. Like a xanaxed Beth Gibbons with a spaghetti western kink, Georgian tracks have landscape: beards of Spanish moss, stubble-grass and houseflies on the ceiling fan add to the overall wash of dustbowl despair, which permeate the pensive narcosis of the vocal. Having already won over throngs of crowds at Dot to Dot, MCR Psych Fest & Beyond the Music, and with NME, DIY and Far Out Magazine are lining up to call themselves fans, Georgian is earmarked as one to watch. Government name Georgia McKiernan, Georgian was born out of a natural extension of self: “As a big history buff, with big curly hair and a love for vintage fashion; Georgian really resonated with me.” she states. Tracing out the hidden contours of lust, mythology, bohemia and the power of womanhood, her cinematic compositions are wildly at odds with her unassuming character: “I love getting dolled up and going out, dancing wildly and having a pint or two with a cheeky ciggie... and I befriend stray cats.” The journey began when producerArno Stolsdiscovered homemade music videos Georgia and her friend were making for a collection of songs she had written aged 17.“He already had his own studio in Amsterdam which he shared with Koen from Klanstof,so he invited me over and we got writing and recording together.” This ultimately led to a longer-term relationship with Arno acting as producer and visual collaborator. Since then, the project has grown to a five piece with a trio of guitars, bass and drums.Newly signed to indie heavyweights Heist or Hit(Her’s, Brad Stank, Cruush, Nature TV), latestsingle ‘Soleil’is a sonic swaddling that cradles a terrible loneliness. The flamenco guitar picking style of early Leonard Cohen drips with a glaze of gooey, gothic Americana. It conjures images of a woman in a white dress, spellbound in the cold desert night. Soil beneath her feet. The dense, rhythmic fingerpicking echoing the underlaying rumblings of a macabre violence eased only by moonshine-soaked top lines and a honeyed vocal. “The protagonist is longing for the warmth of the sun back on her skin whilst she’s trapped within the bleak, dark winter months. It’s about the longing for something or maybe someone better.”explains Georgia. It’s a highly stylised sound but it’s not the 60/70s callbacks or the southern lilt of alt-country that makes it tick,more the pockets of emptiness inside. Each being pulled down by an evasive critical mass of longing. A heaviness that won’t evaporate. Laced with mysticism, mythology, conflicted morality, and lustful yearn for a ball of fire in the sky.Live, Georgia isbacked by an ensemble of musicians with whom she’s formed close connections:“For me, relationships are very important, and I find it embarrassing and awkward performing and playing with somebody I don’t know, so I made sure that the band consisted of my good friends.” Due to this, there’s a performative alchemy to her shows, a trembling dance of interconnectivity between a group that can thrillingly veer from sensitive folk timbres to a swampy woodland rock. Courageous and subtly unusual, Georgia isn’t afraid to make compellingly innovative assaults on her influences to realise a contemporary, anti-conventional take on a sound:“I love the late sixties where musical boundaries were being pushed and played with. Songs often discussed social injustices whichis important to spread awareness, to educate and challenge ideas. Clothing, cinema and belief systems were also being experimented with which must have been exciting artistically.” She professes. It’s an attitude she’s adopted and is baked into her approach to all forms of cultural expression.
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With all the high theatre and poetic desire entrenched in her music, what does this iconic songstress need to unwind? “A hair bobble. Random, but vital. There is nothing better than whacking my hair up in a bun after I’ve had a day of it going in my eyes, my mouth, or getting caught under my bag straps. I’m a calmer and more productive person with my hair up.” When it’s in a bun, get it done.
Tickets £8 members/9 full . From the bar and Seetickets.
£10 on the door.
Event Venue
8 Horton Street, HX1 1PU Halifax, United Kingdom, 10 Horton Street, Halifax, HX1 1, United Kingdom
Tickets
