We were there on the 19th of June for this fantastic double header of two very special artists.

This was our first visit to the Islington Assembly Hall and what a special venue it is. A Grade 2 listed building, but so well suited for gigs. The stage is high, there is a nice downstairs standing area and a decent little upstairs seated balcony. We will keep a better eye on what is on here going forwards.

Clara Mann

Her debut album Rift remains right up there in the best albums released so far this year. Intimate, beautiful, and powered by an utterly incredible singing voice.

Tonight, it is her and Owen Spafford on violin. Instantly, the magic is there. The voice is there, and for thirty minutes, we are transported away into her beautiful folk world constructions. It is becoming increasingly bad with gig etiquette when you go and see artists. There is a large babble of chat from further back. Luckily, there aren’t people chatting down the front. It is bad enough, though, for Clara Mann to comment, “Chatty, chatty, chatty. You’d better be talking about me.” What is this trend for people having their conversations ruined by artists playing music? Surely it is cheaper to go down the pub and chat to your mates than do it at a gig? It is getting harder and harder on support acts.

In between her own songs, she throws in folk standard ‘Wild Mountain Thyme.’ She encourages enough of the crowd to join in with the chorus to make it a beautiful moment.

Clara finds a moment to fangirl over being on tour with Youth Lagoon. Whilst sometimes this sort of thing seems a bit forced by support bands; the affection is clearly genuine here. It is too short a set. This could have been an incredible co-headline tour. She is a very special artist with a very special voice.

Youth Lagoon

Like Clara Mann, Trevor Powers, aka Youth Lagoon, has also released a cracking album this year. Rarely Do I Dream is a masterpiece of personal storytelling, powered by the nostalgic dynamite of a box of old home movies he found whilst round his parent’s house. On the record, fragments of the sound from these are woven into the background of many of the tracks. It is magical stuff. I had wondered if these would be missing tonight but Powers has thought it through. Amongst his keyboard setup he has what looks like an old-fashioned radio and tape player, I suspect it is more of a digital device, but it supplies the background elements when they are required.

Powers has two very strong multi-instrumentalists with him. One is mainly on drums but switches to guitars on a number of tracks and keyboard on another. The other switches between guitars but also helps elsewhere on a few tracks. Powers mainly stays behind his keyboard though plays guitar on a couple and sings at the front for a few.

If you are not familiar with Power’s work he has a full and rich back catalogue. He possesses a fragile voice that complements his music well. It has changed and altered in recent years and not by his own choice. He had a bizarre and rare reaction to an over-the-counter medicine in 2021 that coated his vocal cords in acid and left him unable to speak, let alone sing, for a number of months. He eventually recovered, but the incident left a lasting impact on him that he explores lyrically in his 2023 album Heaven Is a Junkyard.

The set leans very heavily into the new album, which we were more than happy with. ‘Neighborhood Scene’, ‘Football’, ‘Gumshoe’ and ‘Lucy Takes a Picture’ all feature. All these songs conjure beautiful portraits and painful episodes of nostalgic youth and the power of imagination. ‘Lucy Takes a Picture’ is like a gossamer thread, you feel like the gentlest breeze could knock it over.

Whilst there hasn’t been anything wrong with what has gone on ‘Speed Freak’ brings an almost explosive surge of energy. Power’s is up from his keyboard and has suddenly produced a baseball bat out of nowhere. The gentle timidity of beautiful music has been replaced. Power’s swings the bat about, he squats down and repeatedly taps the end down in time to the beat. For a moment you wonder if he is about to go full Negan, pull out six members of the audience and eeny, meeny, miny, moe one of them out of existence.

A range of older material gets an airing. ’17’ remains as wonderful as ever, alongside ‘Montana,’ ‘Mute’ and ‘Prizefighter.’ After the encore the three bandmates all get together for a long group hug, this was the last night of the European Tour and whilst Powers seems genuinely touched by the audience response tonight, who loved every minute, he also gives the impression of someone looking forwards to seeing his own bed again.

Trevor Powers is something of a one-off, a unique entity. Anyone would benefit from taking a little journey into his world and meeting some of the characters that reside within.