This Is the Kit / The 99 Call / Michael Wookey

As the Union Chapel is located a couple of minutes from Highbury & Islington station, you have to be prepared to share the trains and pavements with hordes of Arsenal supporters when there's a home game on. The award-winning venue is actually not so attractive on the outside at the moment as it's clad in scaffolding but it's still stunning on the inside. Today's gig is part of the 'Daylight Music' series - these are held on a Saturday lunchtime, from 12 – 2 pm and entry is free, there's a bucket for donations but no obligation. The aim is to open up the church, to showcase new music and upcoming acts, and "encourage experimentation". The atmosphere is relaxed, there are refreshments – drinks and homemade cakes – and even children amongst the audience.

The first act is the most interesting of the three today so I'm gonna leave his review till last. The band sandwiched in the middle is The 99 Call, comprising two guitars, drums and keys, supplemented by a trumpet. They have some pleasant songs, the frontman has a sweet, high-pitched voice and there's some excellent bluesy guitar playing; a laidback half an hour set.



The headlining act This Is the Kit is the project of Kate Stables who sings the first and penultimate songs solo and is joined by a few friends for the rest of her set on percussion and bass, violin and drums. Stables has a clear folksy voice and alternates playing guitar and banjo. The whole sound has a pretty and ethereal quality, apart from the last song when the volume of the drums unfortunately drowns out the vocals.

Saving the best till last - Michael Wookey, the first act, is a one-man band who plays an assortment of intriguing instruments. I can't pretend to know what they all are but they include keyboards in various guises and devices for electronica effects, a little pump organ, banjo and mini-harp. I'm sold on the very first song as Wookey opens the set with a cover of Tim Buckley's 'Song to the Siren', a beautiful haunting tune which sounds amazing in the gothic Chapel. The music is sparse and his voice has that plaintive, slightly anguished tone similar to the two Conors, Oberst and O'Brien (Villagers).



He shuffles between the instruments, sitting at the pump organ, or with a keyboard on his lap, strumming a banjo, winding a music box; one of the songs, 'Heaven Themed Parties' is sung unamplified kneeling at what looks like a miniature upright piano, and he plays another on a mini-harp, which he asks us to bear with him on as he's only just learning to play. A songwriter who's not in to cheerful themes, Wookey tells us that he only wrote one song during his recent few years in France as he mostly writes when he's miserable. He finishes a totally absorbing set with another tune on the pump organ 'Songs About Snow' from his third and most recent album 'Gun Gala'.

The Union Chapel is a fantastic space to be in, and there is always an interesting schedule of gigs here. The Daylight Music series is an excellent concept and a great way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday, and you can afford to take a chance on acts you've never heard of when the entry is free.

FUTURE GIGS

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