Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
To be on any invited bill shows respect, it shows a longing to hear more of what you offer and is a sentiment that should never be dismissed easily. To be on the bill of an E.P. launch, to be among the select crowd of performers installing reverie and flights of musical fantasy in the midweek desert is to know that music is not a delusion, it is not an unfulfilled desire, it is hope wrapped in sheet music, placed within the instrument of choice and given care.
For Anna Houghton, the only female musician on the musical cast list on the Studio 2 roster on the evening of Cal Ruddy’s epic E.P. launch, it was a set that blossomed and craved attention, it was attention that utterly deserved.
The sensual and the cool often go together, they frequently play together and sit comfortably in each other’s company, such things are normal, such moments are clearly visible when you take time to attend a local gig in which you can actually see the whites of the musician’s eyes and not squint at a screen a few hundred yards away. It is the scent of the sensual that drifts easily into view as Anna Houghton played her set with a delicate sense of beauty and drama as the build up to the full electric set by Cal Ruddy and the other bands on the night started to take hold of those defying midweek lethargy.
Lethargy is not an option when confronted by the sound created by Ms. Houghton, the young free spirit, the inner force with deft guitar fingers, the only option is to listen, to let that spirited playing take you down a route that not even Alice had the courage to delve into as she followed the scheming white rabbit. Lethargy be damned, Anna Houghton has the perfect weapon in her arsenal for that; a set of beautifully constructed songs that fill any hole.
With her set comprising of songs such as Child, Be Good or Be Gone and Grow, the arsenal ripped through mid-week lethargy with ease and the sense of cool, of feminine free spirit, was let loose in the Studio 2 air and given so much room to breathe and collect its thoughts that even on her own, Ms. Houghton was a draw, a musician to relax with.
A great introduction to a performer with oodles of talent, one to catch again!
Ian D. Hall