Fronted by and centred round songs inspired by the real life experiences of Louisa Roach, She Drew The Gun is a proposition easy to get physically and emotionally involved with, especially with debut album Memories Of The Future leading the way. The eleven track release is a romance of evocative sound and insightful word wrapped in the most delicious melodic and harmonic temptation. It is also a collection of songs unafraid to embrace shadows of the heart and life in its often wistful but always mesmeric weave of voice and sound.
The Wirral hailing She Drew The Gun sound lays somewhere between dream pop and folk punk, the former the predominate hue in the project’s unique proposal. It is a sound and certainly style honed by Roach through her early days performing at open mic events and various acoustic shows. The linking up with percussionist Sian Monaghan added another depth and shade to her music which soon after found eager support from Steve Lamacq. With bassist Jack Turner joining up, the trio received an invitation to perform a BBC introducing live session at Maida Vale last year which was backed by numerous acclaimed underground releases, all leading to the creation and unveiling of debut album Memories Of The Future. With the line-up since completed by keyboardist Jenni Kickhefer, a jump to 2016 sees a year looking like being a major event in the emergence of the band led by the release of the James Skelly (The Coral) recorded album’s and new adventures into the UK live scene, not forgetting that She Drew The Gun has just been announced as winners of the Glasto ‘Emerging Talent’ Competition.
Memories Of The Future opens up with Where I End And You Begin, a gentle swing of a song with fuzzy air and the instantly distinctive tones of Roach enveloping ears with seductive prowess. Harmonies only add to the coxing as rhythms add their slightly darker but no less forceful touch. There is a bit of fellow UK band Horse Party to the song but quickly it shows itself an individual as Kickhefer’s keys lay a tender evocative breeze upon the senses and an imagination already stirred by Roach’s lyrical charm.
The excellent start continues with the similarly magnetic Since You Were Not Mine, a siren of melodic and harmonic enslavement from band and Roach. For indefinable reasons, and as its predecessor, there is something familiar about the song but nothing easy to pin down as it has thoughts and body swaying to its poetic waltz before If You Could See takes over charming ears with its slightly darker emotion and more haunted ambience. Spatial yet intimate, the song finds increasing zeal in its gait and catchiness without ever hitting anything beyond second gear, a restraint which bewitches as potently as the wash of melancholic beauty serenading ears.
From its opening rhythmic shuffle Chains has feet in eager movement with hips, increasingly so too as its infectiousness roams the low key but open drama of rhythmic and electronic enterprise as vocal captivation plays. The song is an enslaver of body and appetite, as too the following Pebbles with its acoustic hug where Roach steals attention from the world with voice and guitar. It is a success she constantly repeats as in the jazz and folk scented What Will You Do. It is a glorious enchantment that quickly and increasingly seduces the passions especially with its touch of creative theatre which reminds of Gabby Young & Other Animals but also in its relaxed but virulent tempting too. The track is just another triumph in an already lofty range of such and joined straight way by Poem where voice and word command attention as around them guitar and keys provide an equally provocative climate; this time Young Marble Giants being sparked as a relatively close hint to its majesty.
A pulsating resonance echoes across the sounds of I Am Not Alone next, the song a hypnotic pop croon as emotive as it is infectiously compelling, whilst the following Be Mine takes ears into another acoustic romance courted by the romance of stringed and key spun shadows aligned to rhythmic drama. Both tracks put a hex on the senses, inciting rapturous smiles in return for their unique endeavours before the rawer tenacity of Pit Pony takes the album into another enjoyable twist of imagination with its Red Blood Shoes tinged pop ‘n’ roll which has the body bouncing and appetite greedier still.
Closing on the warm solemnity of Or So I Thought, voice and keys an emotive ‘psalm’ for the senses, Memories Of The Future leaves ears and pleasure basking. It is a spellbinding collection of tracks bred from songwriting which seems to instinctively connect with the listener. The buzz around She Drew A Gun has been feistily brewing in past months and now it is very easy to see and hear why; with even greater things surely yet to come the way of the band and us.
Memories Of The Future is released April 22nd via Skeleton Key on CD, vinyl, and download across most stores.
Upcoming Live Shows
APRIL
22 YORK – The Fulford Arms
24 GLASGOW – The Hug & Pint
26 BRISTOL – The Louisiana
28 LONDON – The Victoria
29 LIVERPOOL – Buyers Club
30 BIRMINGHAM – The Sunflower Lounge
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Pete RingMaster 21/04/2016
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
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