News / / 29.05.14

Tirzah: No Romance EP Launch

The Queen’s Head, Brixton | 23 May

The thriving LOCAL nights at The Queen’s Head have been running for just over a year but already they’ve seen a lot of talent squeeze through their tiny double doors. The outfit is resolute in its old school Lambeth ethos, a response to the invasion of the Clapham crowd and carbon copy clubnights. As an antidote, LOCAL provide a proper bash, scrappily put together but full of charm. 

Tonight’s talent is firmly aligned with that ethos. Tirzah (backed by the prodigious Micachu) celebrates the release of her new EP No Romance with a fitting low-key eccentricity. Posted in the corner of the pub alongside Mica on the decks, Tirzah picks up the mic and begins. The crowd swell around the duo trying for a closer look but there’s not really much to see. We soon duck back and let the music do the talking.

Just like on record, the aesthetic is raw and impenitent with the vocals sitting on top, out in the open. The style evokes late 90s RnB but without any of its glossy overproductions, leaving a more fundamental and sincere impression. Early on Tirzah is basically ad-libbing phrases with seemingly little correlation to what Mica is doing. Later on more succinct renditions of familiar tracks surface, much to the delight of the sweaty, riotous crowd.

The show finishes as discreetly as it begins and we are thrown straight back into some loud dancehall numbers from the Local residents. Meanwhile, the duo sneak off into the confusion. As a launch for the new record, the night has been extremely apt. Tirzah continues to show a great deal of promise as an artist and is clearly en route to bigger things – if that’s what she’s after. Hopefully she can maintain her music’s stripped back charm whilst doing so.

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Words: Jack Lucan Dolan

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