Mon 25 Jul 2005
LIVE AT THE SPITZ, 18th july 2005 by Lilly Novak
Source: Frequency

A balmy, dirty London night finds me climbing the spiral at The Spitz to see Morning Bride solely for this review, or souly for my own pleasure. There is no way that humans can survive long in this heat, or so I imagine. It's raining outside, a slow tease rain that isn't going to refresh so much as make sure my fellow audience members smell damp on top of sweaty.

Ah well, The Spitz makes up one hundred fold for their lack of air quality with their super listening quality sound and an engineer who knows which knob does what. Another credit is that I have a little candlelit table, a feature of The Spitz. They don't have enough of them, and I had to move mine to just the right spot, but it's miles better than the usual small time of trying to write while being jostled by people who aren't listening to sound which is unhearable.

Now Morning Bride. Starting off with my favourite song of theirs is a good way to begin. "Blue-Eyed Boy" is not only one of the most evocative of their songs, it is a perfect showcase of Mark Pearson's divine wordsmithery. The message, "there's got to be another way of slowing down time, than flying backwards around the world, hang on and keep the wolves at bay, help is on it's way..." transmits right through my blood into one of hope. It's a catchy song, one I've heard many people sing along to watching the band, one that I've heard someone singing away from a gig, cycling past on a sunny afternoon.

My point being that Mark clearly has what's necessary to write a saleable song. But there's more than that, a haunting melancholy behind all that promise of hope and herein we get to what is a gorgeous theme running right on with all of Morning Bride's material. Mark has written and arranged these songs with a craft that most bands miss. Darkness and light, speed and lethargy. Old Blues and Postpunk, right down to dirty southern Rock and Roll. And it isn't just that these are themes behind the songs, these are themes within each song.

With proper minor chord heartwrenching urgency, Morning Bride have found a combination of players which comes on like a chemistry class ready to demonstrate fire power. There's only four of them but they can move a room full of a super varied and super cynical audience to shut up and take notice and call for more. I've seen it with them time and time again, and we're talking jaded audiences, used to everyone doing everything possible to be different, to be other, to be original, to be blasé. A magic happens when Morning Bride plays, an enveloping and indisciminate magic.

I've mentioned basist Mark's infallible writing ability; Mark is a poet. Then we have Amity with her gossamer voice looking and sounding truly like a just blessed morning bride. A voice that seems a little delicate but flowers out in the most pleasing way when she lets it. She is beguiling, she sounds like the girl voice in all your best dreams. There's also Jim on drums with his serene Jesus looks, playing tailor, sewing up time to thread everything together.

The boys sing along as well and no one is upstaged or featured but the band as a whole glimmers. In fact both Fabio and Mark have fantastically strong voices and create gliding harmonies with Amity.
More poignancy in "This Place Is No Place For Harbouring Angels", which is, not to gush on, such a strong show song it lets a listener conjure up beautiful day dream visions of the failed perfect love affair. To be fair, I don't even know all lyrics, but the general mood of the tune allows for that, for one to make up one's own story and to let Morning Bride soundtrack it. The rollercoaster of slow/soft anticipation and then fast/loud requition really estimates the true gut pull that love is.

On a new song, "Stepping Out In Front of Cars", I'm reminded of this other pure power behind Morning Bride which is that they do so work together, play off each other, and each song is dependant on the band as a unit.

"Replica" is another crashing good example of their ability to interact and switchback roles. Mark sings alone, just when you crave him to, and then Amity carries this crafty tune along to the place just inside your head where it will stay playing for days to come. Again it's the twisty lyrics, "Who loves you baby? Who really cares?" with such an inflection of sarcasm and bitterness, matched up to the smack in the face rise of "Bang!Bang! Lay down and play dead..." that I want to store the song for when I really need to tell someone off.

It seems unthinkable that Morning Bride will not become a commodity, so saleable and so well packaged as they are, naturally occurring as if they have been streamline destined to fuse together. So I say bollocks to all the jingle jangle guitary pre-fabs around who are outselling each other in scandalous numbers. Music like this: crafted and nurtured and devoted is like a hymnal to the aurally starved masses. It's music to be felt and sung along with and soul racked by. See Morning Bride if you can. I hear they will be recording very soon. One swoons at the idea of Morning Bride in one's own private listening chamber...

In bad form - I blame the stifling heat of the place - I left too early to appreciate the last band, Carmen Rosa. They were kind enough to supply an EP which on a few listens, does sound like I rather missed out. Maybe it's a little bit like Slint. Still, the heat was too hot and the night was too cool to keep me in for long. 'Til next time then.

-Lilly Novak-

Tue 3 Jun 2008
live preview - Bonanza
Source: Bonanza

Fri 9 May 2008
LIVE REVIEW
Source: THE INDEPENDENT

Wed 5 Mar 2008
GREETINGS FROM ABNEY PARK, N16
Source: PLAN B MAGAZINE

Tue 4 Mar 2008
PLAN B LIVE REVIEW, FEB 2008 ISSUE
Source: PLAN B MAGAZINE

Fri 1 Feb 2008
Live
Source: ALTER STATES

Tue 11 Dec 2007
Live at Hot Burrito, Newport, Wales
Source: soundsnew.com

Wed 7 Nov 2007
live review

Mon 15 Oct 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: HERE COMES THE FLOOD webzine

Mon 8 Oct 2007
LIVE AT THE FAVERSHAM, LEEDS 2007
Source: RAWKSTAR.NET

Tue 2 Oct 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: 17 SECONDS webzine

Mon 1 Oct 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES - ALBUM OF THE MONTH
Source: soundsnew.com

Sat 18 Aug 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: NOIZE MAKES ENEMIES webzine

Fri 17 Aug 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: NET RHYTHMS webzine

Sat 14 Jul 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: THE WORD MAGAZINE

Wed 6 Jun 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: Song, by Toad webzine

Wed 23 May 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: SOUNDSXP.COM

Mon 21 May 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: PICCADILLY RECORDS

Mon 7 May 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: AMERICANA UK

Thu 19 Apr 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: ROCK N REEL MAGAZINE

Sun 1 Apr 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: N16 MAGAZINE

Mon 5 Mar 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: PLAN B MAGAZINE

Sun 4 Mar 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: FREQUENCY ONLINE

Thu 1 Mar 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: ORGAN MAGAZINE

Fri 2 Feb 2007
LEA VALLEY DELTA BLUES
Source: SUBTER.COM

Mon 29 Jan 2007
'TIME DELAY'
Source: Partly Porpoise ezine

Sun 28 Jan 2007
'TIME DELAY'
Source: indie-mp3.co.uk

Thu 11 Jan 2007
LIVE AT ALTER STATES, December 2006
Source: americana UK

Wed 15 Nov 2006
interview with mark
Source: antivirus review

Wed 15 Mar 2006
interview with mark
Source: essex chronicle

Mon 20 Feb 2006
LIVE AT WHAT'S COOKIN', 1st february 2006
Source: artrocker magazine

Fri 13 Jan 2006
live preview
Source: the gilded palace of sin

Tue 10 Jan 2006
'ISABELLINE' / 'REPLICA' by rob barnett
Source: music-news.com

Wed 14 Dec 2005
DEBUT SINGLE LAUNCH PARTY, 12th november 2005
Source: frequency

Mon 5 Dec 2005
LIVE AT RYAN'S BAR, 25th november 2005
Source: music-news.com

Thu 10 Nov 2005
'ISABELLINE' / 'REPLICA' by Richard Fontenoy
Source: N16 magazine

Wed 10 Aug 2005
LIVE AT THE SPITZ 18th july 2005
Source: spitz website

Mon 25 Jul 2005
LIVE AT THE SPITZ, 18th july 2005 by Lilly Novak
Source: Frequency