Graham Reid | | <1 min read
A Good Cafe on George Street
This six-piece from Leeds have a charming alt.folk/indie.pop thing going which also has one ear on Americana. Okay, you've heard all that before, right?
But there is something quite beguiling and emotionally disarming about their understatement, the wee splashes of colour from trumpet and French horn, the haiku-like lyrics ("cut from paper/a line of dolls/drawn-on dresses/ a biroed necklace/ with uneven smiles . . .")
They stop just this side of twee (you couldn't risk twee when you sing about poet Anne Sexton), and although there is a sunny quality you can feel a cool chill in the air they breathe.
Overseas writers have put them in the same sentence as Arab Strap, Iron & Wine, Bonnie Prince Billy and Nick Drake. At one time or another some and all of those references makes sense here, but this debut suggests even if the band doesn't last the long haul we should certainly be hearing more from some of the individual members, especially singer-songwriter Jonny Davies.
Oh, and there's no Rosie Taylor in the band. Of course not.
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