Coffee House Sessions – The Orbital

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...

31Oct

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Stranger Stranger Review

Beth Carr reviews Stranger Stranger’s recent set at the Students’ Union. The third Coffee House Session of the year welcomed duo Stranger Stranger to Tommy’s Kitchen, an ethereal and mesmerising performance. As with all the artists so far this was the second show in the tour and of the day, but firmly their first (and probably only!) performed on the landing of a staircase. Our quirky setting was a great accompaniment to their quirky set, and its unearthly quality resonated across the SU. Stranger Stranger’s style of music is hard to pinpoint. Full of dissonance and harmonies, it’s a concept that doesn’t sound like it would work but, in fact, it brings a unique tone to the saturated world of music. It was clear that the duo were incredibly immersed in the music and performance and ge...

Coffee House Sessions brings free live music to Tommy’s Kitchen

25Oct

By Beth CarrNo Comments

Culture & Literature, Music

Coffee House Sessions brings free live music to Tommy’s Kitchen

A revived, rebranded SU seems like the perfect place to kick off the brand new season of Coffee House Sessions, and, ignoring the lack of coffee house status, Tommy’s Kitchen provided a near perfect setting for the first of these. Sharing a name with our founder (and therefore the venue), Tom Walker stepped naturally into his second show of the day and performed a stunning original set - the audience may have arrived hungry for a Colossus burger but I certainly left with a hunger for more of Walker’s original songs. The set was fresh but full of cultural references, including Katy Perry, the Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Spotify: it provided something to relate to even though you were hearing completely new content. We sat down with Tom Walker before the set to discover more about his ba...

23Feb

By No Comments

Features

Coffee House Sessions: The Step

Jess Hines interviews The Step and talks to them about their song writing, their thoughts on popular talent TV shows and working with Liam Nolan - who worked on Adele's "Hello". Crosslands is alive and buzzing with students as the crew enters to set up for another Coffee House Sessions performance. Performing tonight is London based Italian indie duo, The Step. Stefano and Oliviero begin to help organise the stage the moment they enter, despite already playing at two other university venues today. Bright eyed and smiling they seem surprisingly energetic, considering they had performed at Winchester university only a matter of hours ago. Soundcheck has everyone in Crosslands quieting down and turning their attention to the two figures at the front. They tease the audience with a brief ...

25Jan

By No Comments

Features

Coffee House Sessions: Izzy Bizu

Jess Hines talks us through the beautiful performance that Izzy Bizu shared with the students of Royal Holloway and the interview that took place shortly after... The atmosphere at Crosslands was cozy and calm. Laughter danced in the air, as the equipment was set up and the cameras began rolling as 21 year-old singer-songwriter Izzy Bizu crooned into the microphone a little; soundcheck. Her velvet voice quickly drew the attention of the entire room, students turned in their seats as their eyes were lured to the front. Izzy warned the audience she’d only just woken up, tired after performing twice already that day in different locations, for her university coffeehouse tour. Her voice however was so powerful, so strong yet it appeared to flow effortlessly from her lips as she began her se...