Danny Whitehouse, Milly Hirst, Shane O'Linski and The Dim Goddess

This night was billed as an evening of innovative and creative local singer/songwriters and also heralded the launch of the Norwich Covers Norwich CD, a CD featuring local musicians covering songs by other local musicians, a sort of community mutual appreciation society I suppose you could say.   Danny Whitehouse, Milly and The Dim Goddess all feature on the CD.  Shane O'Linski was therefore "the odd one out" on this occasion as he did not collaborate with the other performers on the Norwich Covers Norwich project.  He has however worked with many other local musicians on his own projects.  The evening also marked the second Anniversary of the Acoustic & Eclectic nights, the first one having taken place in January 2009.  Anyway, that's enough intro blurb, now let's get down to business.

The Dim Goddess, a.k.a. Zoe, is no stranger to A & E nights and she has graced us with her presence and made regular appearances since the nights first began.  Zoe has however now upgraded her old harp and invested in a pedal harp, but she brought both along to play on the evening.  Her angelic voice and her enchanting harp playing created an ethereal atmosphere, albeit somewhat melancholic.  Her songs have traditional arrangements and portray lost maidens and lost loves.  Zoe aired a few new songs, one of which was called "the Sailor" and it was lighter than anything I have heard Zoe perform in the past.   It is refreshing to see someone take up a less "popular" instrument and to bring it into the realms of cool.

Shane O'Linski was up next.  It seemed fitting that he should play the second Anniversary of the nights as he performed at the inaugural A & E night back in January 2009.  Shane has a certain charm and unpredictability - you never know quite what to expect each time he performs but he is guaranteed to entertain you and put a smile on your face.  He has a vast repertoire of songs, being a prolific songwriter.   His songs are quirky and he seems to pack a lot of lyrics into a short bar of music but somehow he makes it work.   He performed a couple of amusing songs, one called "Respect Thy Elders", swiftly followed up by "Reject Thy Elders".  He has been likened to Syd Barrett and finished off his set with a very good version of "Effervescent Elephant", which he dedicated to the host of the evening.  

Milly Hirst writes very moody songs and accompanies herself with gentle acoustic guitar.  She has an extremely powerful voice which she can boom out for extra dramatic effect and then bring back down to a whisper, all adding to the theatrics of her performance.  She commands your attention when she sings - you just cannot ignore her, and wouldn't want to as she stands out from the crowd for all the right reasons.  She held a captive audience at Olives as she worked her way through "Talk to My Mother" and "Tides" and finished off with the haunting "Rose", one of my personal faves.  Milly should be set to become a star of the future and I really hope she gets the right exposure so other people can share the experience which she is able to offer.

Danny Whitehouse's name has been buzzing around Norwich now for some months and he is certainly carving out a niche for himself.   He was joined on stage by Zoe (who accompanied him on the harp and also provided backing vocals) and Dom (who also provided backing vocals).  Danny announced at the start of his set that he was going to do a "30 minute song" and he delivered exactly what was on the label - one continuous journey of music separated into smaller sections, one piece flowing into the next.  He has a deep raspy voice which doesn't look like it should come out of his body as he has boyish impish looks.  He is another clever wordsmith and his words add depth and imagery to his songs.

The first two years of Acoustic & Eclectic nights have provided a diverse mixture of artists not only from East Anglia and around the country but also from across the pond.

I have had a sneak preview of some of the artists lined up for 2011 and it shows no signs of letting up in the calibre of artists chosen to appear.  But don't just take my word for it, go along and find out for yourself.

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Author: Dorraine Bennett                           ©2011 Dors Productions