The latest installment of Bandstand Busking is taking place in Clerkenwell* this coming Sunday. For those of you unfamiliar with this coolest of concepts, it sees up-and-coming musical acts take to the bandstand in Northampton Square, off St John Road (map), for just under half an hour. It’s old-fashioned, acoustic, charming and completely free. And appearing this week are…
3.00 pm: Peggy Sue
A threepiece comprising 66.6% females, this likeable Brighton act offer up guitar-based folksy melodies imbued with a refreshing lack of flashiness. Some end in cacophany while others never get above a gentle simmer, but each is slightly different and very likeable. The forlorn, autumnal feel of Lover Gone feels especially appropriate in these days of cooling climes and all-too-easy melancholy.
Peggy Sue on MySpace
MP3: Peggy Sue – Lover Gone (zSHARE)
3.30pm: Sons of Noel & Adrian
Also from Brighton and recently supporting the mighty Mumford & Sons, SONA boast as many as 12 members when playing live. That’ll be one busy bandstand – but this is a dozen who really could delight… Fiddle-fuelled and whistle-enhanced, The Boat is Not A Wreck is very much a song for a Sunday, its wistful air conjuring up a lost land of barley squash and pick-your-own farms. Sulkier and slower, Damien is a rangy, witches’ potion of a song, full of delicately-sung, heartfelt duets and mesmerising guitar work.
Sons of Noel & Adrian on MySpace
MP3: Sons of Noel & Adrian – 30 Boys With Bats (zSHARE) (the only song I could get)
* The exact area that Northampton Square is in is open to question. Bandstand Busking has it as Islington, but I live round here and to me this is Clerkenwell, or even Finsbury. Not that it really matters…!