First up this evening are Honey Moon, a five-piece outfit from South East London who have been tagged as `Melanchollipop for the soul` and during the next thirty minutes they certainly lived up to that tag. The band released their debut album `Same Old Paradise` earlier this year and we enjoyed a few cuts such as the quite retro `Sweetheart`, ballad like `The Call` and upbeat `VIP`. The band are certainly seasoned musicians and have a gifted singer in Jack Slater Chandler who possesses a honey drenched vocal range. Their ballad like numbers and more uplifting funky vibes certainly won this attentive audience over.
Melin Melyn are an eccentric vintage pop six-piece band who although they aren`t particularly comfortable with the label, they have become figureheads for a new wave of Welsh artists dubbed by some as “Cool Cymru 2.0”. This sextet are encouraged to the stage by initially their guitarist who mops the stage floor and frontman Gruff Glyn who beckons them via a kind of tannoy application. The group duly assemble and blast straight into the intro of `Jolly Basket` as this packed audience cheer them on.
We enjoy a couple of tracks sung in Welsh with the enthralling `Dewin Dwl` or `Silly Wizard` and `Mwydryn` a fairly psychedelic track that is difficult to translate but is about someone who talks drivel over and over again or as the singer shares tonight `talks a load of shite`.
We have a couple of numbers sandwiched in-between these two with `Lucy’s Odyssey` and `I Paint Dogs` which was written after Guff had attended an exhibition in London and had assumed the artist made money from the paintings displayed but found that the artist`s main income came from painting pictures of dogs for wealthy landowners.
The biggest cheer of the night went up for `Jelly vs Blomonj` a delightfully eclectic piece before they shared what for me was my highlight in `Nefoedd yr Adar` which means heaven of the birds.
A stunning retro soul classic if ever there was one.
The band share a new number with `Masterplan` before launching into a cover of Ian Dury & The Blockheads most successful single `Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick`. The fellas return to `Jolly Basket` but this time it`s the outro before sending us home with `Rebecca`, a track loosely inspired by the Rebecca Riots when local Welsh farmers in the 1800s took to smashing up the toll gates put up by rich landowners, whilst being dressed in women’s clothes screaming the name Rebecca. The track itself is fairly sedate before exploding midway into a blistering angry diatribe with shouts of “we`re coming for you” and “Rebecca” along with some scorching saxophone tones.
I have to say I was blown away by Melin Melyn and can understand why they went down a storm at The Green Man and End Of The Road Festivals last year and are amongst the bands tipped as `ones to watch`.
They have a few more dates this month before summer festivals and a planned tour in October so if you want to catch them somewhere where you can still reach out and touch them, you need to get along pretty soon.
