The Flowing album launch

LV21 Arts Centre, Gillingham Pier
4th December 2015

The Flowing launched their new album Talk About Wonder aboard the decommissioned lightship LV21 (now an arts centre), a very special occasion for which I got the train up from Canterbury (respect to them for starting/finishing early enough so that those of us who came by train could catch the last one home). Good to see them on their home turf (er, well, sea, I suppose — quite appropriate given the maritime heritage of the Medway towns, and the album art).

We were treated to two sets of pure beauty. Singer and songwriter Dave started solo for the first couple of songs, surprisingly on electric guitar, but then switched to acoustic when joined by Sophie (ukelele/vocals), Vicky (French horn/accordion/vocals), Hannah (violin/vocals) and Theo (bass/vocals) for the rest of the first set. Sophie started the second set solo with a couple of her own songs (sung with acoustic guitar), one involving a major spoken word component, and Vicky had a solo spot a bit later accompanying herself on "If I Were A Blackbird" on accordion. But mostly it was Dave's deeply moving, poetic songs backed up wonderfully by this exquisite ensemble. They ended with the rousing "We Will Not Go" and a poignant "Seasons" (dedicated to two recently lost friends), then encored with "The Eyes of Great Men", all three songs being instant classics. I haven't had a chance to listen to the CD yet (who has a CD player these days?), but if it's anywhere as near as good as this performance, it should win over legions of followers. You can check it out on Bandcamp, but here's some video from the gig for now:
 

 

Looking forward to seeing them play in Canterbury in the spring (they're booked to play a Crash of Moons Club event with Arlet, that should be another truly great night).