Music – Page 4 of 8 – The Orbital

19Mar

By Jordan ThorneNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music, Theatre & Performance

Setting sail with HMS Pinafore

Savoy Opera’s production of ‘HMS Pinafore’ set sail last night amidst a sea of laughter. Niamh Dunne did a brilliant job directing the show, successfully combining the heart wrenching with the hilarious. Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedic Operetta is set on board HMS Pinafore. The story follows the plight of Josephine Corcoran and her forbidden love for the sailor Ralph Rackstraw. Tasha Crossley played Josephine convincingly, successfully conveying the false innocence of the character. The contrast of sweet naivety with awareness of sexual humour was delivered with capability. Will Maxwell brilliantly played Josephine’s unfortunate lover Ralph. He brought to the stage the injustice of their separation. I was particularly struck by his solo ‘The Nightingale Sighed’ in which the character’s e...

30Jan

By Georgia BeithNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Are we Running out of Music?

Recently, Lana Del Rey announced that she was being sued for breach of copyright by Radiohead. The English band are claiming that her 2017 song “Get Free” bares significant resemblance to their iconic 1992 hit “Creep”. This is not the first music copyright dispute that “Creep” has been caught up in. Upon its release, Radiohead were sued by the Hollies for having similarities to their song “The Air That I Breathe” released in 1972. Music copyright claims are, clearly, nothing new. Ed Sheeran was sued in 2017 for his platinum single “Photograph”, Mark Ronson was forced to add a number of additional song writing credits to his number 1 hit “Uptown Funk”, and even the Ghostbusters theme song was involved in a copyright dispute that was eventually settled out of court. Are these just all ...

Review: Fish Out of Water’s “Hares on a Mountain”

28Oct

By Georgia BeithNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Review: Fish Out of Water’s “Hares on a Mountain”

Fish Out of Water is a folk rock quintet hailing from Bournemouth, and fronted by one of Royal Holloway’s own, Maria Green. They are following up their debut album “Carp Diem” with the release of a four track EP; “Hares on a Mountain”. Working with Talking Elephant Records, the five piece band’s second release is decidedly more polished, and presents a slicker, more cohesive sound than their first ten track album. Their sound travels in a slightly heavier direction at times, pulling traditional folk songs into the twenty first century through reworked covers. For a group of people so young Fish Out of Water expertly take on songs with centuries of history, churning out fresh, if not slightly experimental, music. Fish Out of Water’s revamped sound brings a new level of originality to ...

13Apr

By Joanne ArcherNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Coffee House Sessions: Sonia Stein

The Orbital’s Arts Editor, Joanne Archer, reviews Sonia Stein’s performance at Coffee House sessions. If you are still unfamiliar with Coffee House sessions, you need to rock up at Tommy’s at 5pm on a Monday, order yourself a burger, sit back and enjoy. Each week, a new, up-and-coming artist sets up their makeshift stage on the staircase in the SU. You may not know these artists now, but with most signed to major record labels, they are bound to get big. The brand that organises the intimate gigs, Coffee House Sessions, promise to serve up “a fix of #newmusic ones to watch, & live acoustic tours”. To give you an idea of what this means in the industry, the likes of Izzy Bizu began their careers by touring universities with Coffee House Sessions. This month, Sonia Stein graced...

Absolute Harmony Spring Concert: A Bright and Breezy Treat

12Apr

By Rachel Perry-WattsNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music, Theatre & Performance

Absolute Harmony Spring Concert: A Bright and Breezy Treat

On the 11th of March, RHUL’s resident acapella choir, Absolute Harmony, treated us to their Spring Concert in the Boilerhouse lecture theatre. For those not familiar with the choir, their website explains that they ‘sing a wide array of original arrangements, ranging from pop hits to film soundtracks, all sung in at least four (usually five or more!) part harmony’. This range was certainly displayed in their concert; from ‘Raise Your Glass’ by P!nk, to ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton, there really was something for everyone. The evening was in support of two different charities, Dementia UK and The Children’s Trust, both of which were of special significance to the choir. A collection was made after a member of the choir gave a short introduction; it was really inspiring to see how passionate AbH...

20Mar

By Rosalie FallaNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Coffee House Session: Marios Panayi

Rosalie Falla chats with Marios Panayi after his Coffee House Session on 27 February. The dulcet tones of Marios Panayi filled Tommy’s this Monday evening as the 3rd year Music student performed a mixture of acoustic covers and original pieces. Accompanying himself on guitar, Panayi caused the audience to pause their burger-eating and listen with his bluesy take on Bill Wither’s ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, Panayi’s favourite song of all time. Panayi describes his music as both folky and alternative, acoustic and bluesy, this hybrid sound makes for surprisingly easy listening and Marios is clearly passionate about his sound. He is inspired by swing artists such as Frank Sinatra and the blues guitarist and singer, Eric Clapton, as well fellow Cypriot indie/folk singer Metaxas. Marios first go...

13Mar

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Coffee House Sessions: April Keen

Beth Carr catches up with April Keen after her Coffee House Session on 6 February. April Keen brought superbly moving music to Tommy’s Kitchen alongside her guitarist Jesse on the first Monday of February, performing a range of original songs and covers. Her cover of Hey Soul Sister blew me away with its stripped back nature and a melancholy feel. The set was incredibly well crafted and there was a real sense of passion in the movement and energy shown by April on stage. She doesn’t always know what genre her music fits into but it is best described as folk, pop and indie. Her Coffee House set is naturally stripped back but in studio recordings there’s more electronic production, although her chilled vibe remains. Her lyrics are more in the style of Gabrielle Aplin but her melodi...

21Feb

By Rhona ReedNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Film & TV, Music

‘La La Land’ and The Vintage Revival

Rhona Reed delves into ‘La La Land’ and the controversial topic of modern-day jazz. Should it be an experimental reinvention, or purely replicate the past? If La La Land proves anything – beyond the fact that Linus Sandgren’s cinematography is genius – it is that we cannot frown at today’s reinterpretations of classic trends. Purchasing a remastered vinyl or an overpriced imitation of a vintage dress may make many purists grimace. Yet, every season reinvents a classic trend from past decades. Do we really want to just repeat history, rather than alter it? The predicted revival of 2017 is the controversial kitten heel and, while you may scorn now, this is the perfect opportunity to see how our reinvention of a retro trend may actually make a dated style fashionable and enjoyable. T...

17Feb

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Coffee House Sessions: Mark Sullivan

Beth Carr chats to Mark Sullivan after the first Coffee House Session of the term. Mark Sullivan brought a mellow and mature feel to the first Coffee House after Christmas with what he deems “funky acoustic soul rock”. It has always been his dream to do music full time and I wanted to find out more about how this came about. In early life, Sullivan was surprisingly not into music at all but that all changed after seeing Oasis unplugged on MTV. He obtained a guitar at the age of 14 and soon was choosing to play it over the classic teenage pastime of computer games. He also started to sing but in his own opinion he was bad at it, giving up for a period of time to concentrate on his band. 7 years ago he started singing again properly and has been solo for 3-4 years. However the guitar a...

7Feb

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Coffee House Sessions: Matt Wills

Beth Carr reviews the final Coffee House Session of last term. With November almost over, Matt Wills brought last term’s Coffee House Tour to a close with an edgy acoustic set of original music melded with familiar samples of popular songs such as ‘Hotline Bling’ and ‘No Scrubs’. I asked Matt how he decided to add those tracks into his set: “When I do songs there’s always like a space that I leave like a little space and I’ll throw a random song in, it probably won’t originally fit and it’ll probably be a different key or probably a different vibe but I’ll throw it in”. He prefers sampling to doing indie covers of mainstream songs, and it really works. He got into music from a young age, writing music as an awkward thirteen year-old who wanted to impress a girl through songwritin...