Music

Sometimes there are nights that have a perfect synergy to them, when you know that all the bands will work perfectly together. Tonight’s bill at the Coo Coo Club at the Jericho Tavern is just such a night.

Sam Isaac has been the poster boy of the Introducing project. Hereford and Worcester’s local music show put him forward to play Glastonbury and from there he went on to take part in that year’s Electric Proms. It was an incredible time for the singer songwriter who went from singing in local two-bit venues to collaborating with some of the finest musicians in the land.

Now a full year on from those heady days Sam is touring the country with a full band supporting a new EP Sticker, Star and Tape, out now on Alcopop! Records (itself a mini-offshoot of the already miniature Big Scary Monsters label based in Oxford).

The Oxfordshire music scene has long supported Sam Isaac, giving him a slot at Truck 2007, and it was a real joy to see him back in town. With his band he now finally sounds like he does on the record, ful of jangly energy but with a sound that never loses touch with his perfectly unique voice.

Unique voices turn out to be the order of the evening. Brian from the Oxford band Stornoway leads his group in the charge as they open up with We Are The Battery Human, a classic new track which involves all the members contributing their vocal talents to a medley of sound. Stornoway have never slipped out of my top five local bands since I first heard their debut EP The Early Adventures Of Stornoway, and every time I see them live I’m reminded of why they are so brilliant. Cerebral, jaunty and at the same time powerful and wistful... in fact they have everything and they do it all superbly.

Finally that brings me to Joe Allen, a man that only does one thing superbly, which isn’t bad when you consider very few bands do anything that well. He has an original voice and a raft of songs that seem designed to make you cry through their own passionate sense of forlorn sorrow. I really enjoy it for a bit but can’t help thinking with the voice and the talent in his little ensemble he ought to be pushing the envelope more than he is.