‘SCENE’, hosted at the Amersham Arms, is advertised as an event in which attendees can witness the rising stars of London’s underground music scene. From what I can see this is a regularly occurring Thursday evening event, and on the 25th of July, it featured the artists Angeli, JSCA, Lydia Reece and Isabelle Mettle.
When I arrived and had a look around the venue, it housed a small, jolly audience of friends, ready for the first artist. The venue itself, around the corner from the main pub, is a large room with a central bar and a few corners to sit in one half, and the stage and standing area in the entrance half. This makes it welcoming for those (like myself) who may appreciate a break from the upstanding boogying, whilst still being able to enjoy the performers at a relatively close range.
Angeli was the first artist to take the stage. Performing as a solo singer with a backing track, you could tell that this was a performer who was comfortable engaging with her audience – she kept confident eye contact with her listeners throughout the set, and communicated with audience members as they entered the venue. She continued this communication between her songs, explaining the contexts of her originals and covers (including the plot of the film that ‘Tujh Main Rab Dihkta Hai’, which she covered, was from). I found it particularly memorable when she explained her motivations behind her performance – being that she likes to create a safe space for the ‘wierdos’, with as much variety in her music and themes as possible.
This variety was particularly prevalent in the switch between her third and fourth songs. The third was the cover mentioned above, accompanied with a single piano track – Angeli’s performance was heartfelt, portrayed through her smooth vocal tone and very clean vocal inflections. The fourth song was a complete change of tone. This was Angeli’s own ‘F*** A LOVE SONG’, otherwise known as ‘FALS’, which was released only a week before the performance. Her performance of this song was highly energetic, made visually effective through her movements accompanying certain lyrics of the song. The song itself has a very catchy hook, making it an impactful one to finish off the set. Overall Angeli’s confidence and strong vocal ability shone through in her performance – my only criticisms would be that some of her high notes and tunings could be revisited, and that it would have been brilliant to have seen her perform alongside a band, promoting more energy to the performance.
The second performer was alt Latin pop artist JSCA. JSCA graced the stage alongside a band line up of guitar, bass and drums, impactfully entering the stage by herself after the band began playing. The appearance of JSCA and her band was very striking, with JSCA wearing red with a dash of black, her band all in black, and the background being lit in mainly red. This both promoted the cohesion of the singer and her band, and her prominence as the main focus. JSCA’s stage presence made her stand out from the start – her performance was characterized by her smooth choreographed movements as she sang, paired with her exquisite vocal tone and vocal inflections which sounded completely effortless.
JSCA told us the backstories behind her originals – which I think were all from her EP ‘TELENOVELA’ – with her songs ranging from the subjects of letting go without resentment, her family’s sacrifices, and cleaning. She reflected this range through her vocal technique, as she demonstrated a beautiful falsetto, a controlled vibrato, a quiet hum and a strong belt at different points throughout her set, creating both an emotional and dynamic spectrum of sound. By the end of her set she had audience members dancing through the wonderfully rhythmic feel of her songs, topped off by her incorporation of audience participation in her penultimate song. JSCA clearly had a strong hold on her audience and her performance, subtly adjusting a few tuning mismatches between herself and the band so that they were almost entirely unnoticeable. At the bottom of my notes I wrote the word transfixing, with a strong set of underlines – I’d say transfixing is a pretty perfect word to describe JSCA’s performance, movements and sublime vocals.
The next artist was Liverpool based Lydia Reece. Reece was accompanied by an exciting small sort of jazz band, comprised of drums, bass, electric guitar, keys, and topped off by trumpet and saxophone. The first thing I noticed when Reece and her band took the stage was the overall dynamic and appearance of the group – the stage was adorned with energy, and colour from their wacky clothes (especially the drummer’s beret). The band all had their pairs – trumpet and sax, keys and guitar, drums and bass – with Reece by herself at the front, placing her strongly in the middle as the main focus. I found myself grinning with excitement from the moment they started tuning, with the musicians soloing over the top of the tuning pedal note, building up the energy in the room almost instantly.
Throughout Reece’s set of mostly originals she exhibited a wonderfully powerful voice, and seemed completely relaxed on stage, moving along with the groove and engaging with her bandmates. Her vocal hooks were very memorable, especially her repetition of ‘I’m your muse, you’re my worst habit’ – she is clearly an expert in writing memorable, catchy lyrics and melodies that are wonderfully reinforced by the funky nature of the backing band. It was a brilliant surprise when the keys and electric guitar players accompanied Reece with some backing vocals, creating a particularly gorgeous sound when they all sang in unison octaves. The pair of horns brought an exquisite flavour to the upper end of the texture, particularly when they played perfectly coordinated crescendos.
The slick coordination of the band and singer was what I found the most impressive thing about the performance. Reece’s songs contained exciting variety between sections, and the band arrangements complimented this through sudden changes in texture, groove and time signature. This created an exhilarating energy throughout the performance, as you never knew what was going to happen next, but knew that whatever it was, it would happen absolutely seamlessly. Even a moment of key disagreement between the singer and the band was sorted straight away mid-song, ending up sounding as though it was entirely intentional.
I have written JAW DROPPING in capital letters in my notes. The atmosphere created by these insanely talented musicians was absolutely electric – who would have thought that watching a group of friends methodically jam on a stage could be so thrilling? Reece’s ‘She Don’t Know’ and ‘Looking Glass’ are both available to stream on all music platforms, and I couldn’t recommend them enough.
The final artist of the night was Isabelle Mettle, performing a longer set of original upcoming releases alongside a backing band of keys, drums and bass. As soon as the band began playing the first song – Mettle’s ‘London Weather’ – I was struck by how slick and clean their sound was. The word funky came to mind instantly, with the groovy nature of Mettle’s music complimented by the strong stage presences of all the musicians. I particularly enjoyed watching the dynamic and personality of the band, notably the bassist constantly moving with the music and the keys ‘just chillin’ (as per my notes) with a pint in hand.
Mettle demonstrated some pretty astounding vocal abilities throughout her set. Her impressive vocalisations in the introduction of ‘Sacred Love’ set the tone for the rest of the song perfectly, paired with her confident taking of the mic from the mic stand. Her use of the mic in this song was particularly impressive, as she varied between singing quietly and close to the mic, and going further away from the mic for her louder sections, constantly maintaining the balance on the spot. I enjoyed the occasional conversational nature of her singing, in which she would exhibit a half-singing, half-speaking sort of tone, demonstrating even further the variety of vocal techniques she has mastered and her abilities to control each one perfectly. Her penultimate song, ‘Sick of Me & You’, showcased her brilliant belting and scatting abilities, causing the audience to respond very enthusiastically.
She drew our attention to the band by giving them individual moments in the spotlight through introductions and solos. The bass specifically took my focus a number of times, such as when he played a wonderful groovy bass line in the second song, or when he created an effective octave unison with Mettle’s vocals. The variety of different sounds on the keys also added a subtle colour change between each song, and I enjoyed moments when Mettle was speaking between songs and the keys guy played underneath, resulting in a seamless transition between songs and a maintaining of energy throughout. The one or two moments when the key was slightly unclear were sorted out pretty much straight away, made irrelevant behind the strong stage presences of the musicians.
Overall, Mettle and her band’s energy and skill gave a brilliant end to an exciting night of music, leaving me and my fellow audience members in very high spirits.
