With a voice as sweet as honey and lyrics to match, sensitive soul Kate Walsh, brings out the romantic side in Getintothis’ Natalie Philip.
It can be an enviable task this, going to lots of gigs and writing reviews business, but, what people forget is that it is simultaneously undesirable.
It is with this in mind that we turn to the duet that was TJ & Murphy, the band who just seemed to be unable to kick start their set.
Complicated guitar riffs were the order of the day for these gentleman, which was impressive to begin with in songs like Power Of Persuasion.
Coupled with some high range harmonies, the set started off quite well, but when all of their other songs followed the same pattern their performance unfortunately turned from impressive, to hackneyed.
Even, Free Man Walking left little but a banal atmosphere in the room which, considering the song was about a young soldier from World War II wasn’t wonderful. All of this might have been fine, but the men weren’t all that enjoyable to watch.
It’s hard to empathise with performers who spend the entire set looking smugly pleased with themselves, and thank an audience who haven’t yet started clapping. The lasting impression of them is one that is stilted and, to be honest, awkward.
A strange atmosphere welcomed Kate Walsh, but she breezed onto stage with a beaming smile and charmed the room from the second she started singing.
Whatever your listening pleasure, Walsh had something to please the entire room, be it old tunes like Your Song, not to be confused with Ellie Goulding’s cover, it has its own identity.
Or brand new material like The Real Thing, which comes from the album of the same name. Walsh is essentially the antithesis of her support act, genuinely warm, with vocals as sweet as honey and lyrics to match.
Everything about her performance was set to make you feel included in The Unity’s perfectly intimate setting, as part of an experience she was enjoying herself. Part of this came from the little stories she had to accompany each song, her album of covers, Peppermint Radio had a particularly lovely story from her childhood.
Relating things like this back to her love of her family and her mother gave a sweet nostalgic quality to the night that it was hard not to feel endeared and therefore enjoy her singing all the more. If you’re searching for this album make sure you listen to her cover of Erasure‘s, A Little Respect.
On Kate’s twitter bio she describes herself as a, ‘hopeless romantic, professional wallower,‘ and this is the exact thing that makes her so likeable. Whether you’re falling in love or suffering from heartache, once you’ve heard her songs you won’t want to spend that time with anyone but her.
