The Camden Barfly was nice and busy for this Time Out London Sessions show; the audience sure looked the part and it was now up to the bands to make sure that this night was a success.
First up was Paper Crows, a minimalist London two-piece consisting of vocalist Emma Panas and keyboardist Duncan McDougall. Paper Crows provided a pleasant sound with their set, performing a number of smartly put together tracks and warming the crowd up nicely for headline act Clock Opera. Emma Panas’ vocals really did go down well, and Paper Crows was able to set the scene for a night packed full of hugely entertaining music.
Although the headline act, interestingly up second was another London based band in the form of Clock Opera. With great applause after every track played, Clock Opera was clearly able to impress its London crowd, and there were no doubt many that went home afterwards and downloaded the band’s new single ‘Once And For All’, released through Kitsune on the day of the gig. With every track the band had a lot to offer here, and it wasn’t hard to work out why Clock Opera had been chosen to headline. Tall Ships was still to come, the bar had been set incredibly high by Clock Opera however, and it was always going to be hard for Tall Ships to try and top the Clock Opera performance; clearly a large number of those in attendance decided that this was an impossible feat and chose to end their night after Clock Opera, this was most definitely a mistake though as Tall Ships is a high quality band with a great amount to offer with its live show. Clock Opera put on an undeniably excellent show at the Barfly and I’d very much be interested in seeing the band again in the future, Tall Ships was up next though and there was therefore no chance that I’d be heading for the exit quite yet.
Clock Opera vocalist Guy Conelly had many admirers to attend to once the band’s set was over; there were plenty of people hanging around to get a chance to chat to the man and he certainly seemed extremely appreciative of their support and pleased to talk to them. Clock Opera is a band that I’ll be expecting to hear a lot more from in the future and I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if they were to bag a major recording contract sooner or later; be sure to check out this band live if you get the opportunity as you’re extremely unlikely to be left disappointed.
So last but by no means least, it was time for Falmouth’s Tall Ships to take to the stage. Kicking off their set with ‘Plate Tectonics’ from the recently released ‘There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here’ EP, Tall Ships put on an extremely powerful show for the seriously diminished Barfly crowd. Many may have left after Clock Opera, Tall Ships sure made sure that those that stuck around were rewarded for doing so however, blasting through a very impressive half hour set that was packed full of quality material. Tall Ships is most definitely a band that knows how to impress with its mathcore sound; switching instruments multiple times throughout the set, the bands three members offered much with this show, putting smiles on the faces of those in attendance and ensuring that this Time Out London night ended on a high.
From start to finish this was a gig that pleased; all three bands very much did their job, for me though it was most definitely Clock Opera and Tall Ships that made the evening special. Both of these bands are ones to watch out for I feel, and heading into the future I very much believe that big things should be expected from both of them.
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UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
