Rozi Plain

Soak's show last week was a well deserved sell-out, following Bridie Monds-Watson & Co's Mercury Awards nod for début long player, 'Before We Forgot How to Dream'. The three piece line-up gave a strong, tight performance, enriched by sound quality as good as any I've ever heard at that particular venue. The set drew extensively from the LP, with the addition of one new number and a solo encore of Bonnie Raitt's 'I Can't Make You Love Me'. The highlight was an extended 'Oh Brother' that noisily pulled and stretched the song beyond all recognition. It'll be interesting to see if this is a direction she (and the band) will pursue in the future.

Good as Soak were, I was mainly there to see support act Rozi Plain, who, for various reasons, I've managed to miss on her previous visits to my neck of the woods. Her excellent third LP, 'Friend', released in the Summer, is one that I optimistically included in a pre-Mercury announcement punt a couple of weeks ago, though in the event, like a number of my other predictions, she was overlooked by the people who actually make these decisions. The album boasts a number of unobtrusive guests such as Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip, Serafina Steer and members of This is the Kit (of whom she is an occasional member) and François & The Atlas Mountains. On stage, as on record, Rozi is a sparse, restrained presence and her songs are wistful delights.