The latest Food Union Crypt Session
Review
After the great pleasure I derived from the previous Crypt Sessions organised by Coventry Food Union in the Wyley Chapel under Coventry Cathedral ruins which I reported on, I was massively looking forward to the stunning lineup last night of Reign the Girl Band & Bar Pandora.
The latter anticipation was amplified by Charlie not having played many gigs in 2025 as she worked on her debut album (look out for that) and as you know, I was entranced by the former at Leamington Food & Drink Festival and their recent debut single "She Stayed".
Obviously that performance only really took off for me once their sound was fixed but it was enough to convert me to their cause. Given the intimacy of their style, if you thought they were great on a park bandstand, imagine how magnificent they were in a medieval crypt. To experience them from three to four feet was a privilege. Talk about an immersive experience.
None of the vocalists all evening needed nor employed a microphone & instruments were given the most cursory of amplification. This was a fitting use of the space which must originally have been designed to make the best use of acoustic music.
As suggested in my review of "She Stayed", Sian & Lily invite you to get lost in the enchanting mists of their songs. Which is actually rather pleasant but diverting for a reviewer. Fortunately I was so close to them that I could observe some of their skills from very close quarters.
Anyone watching them will admire the interplay of two voices & two guitars. It's worth thinking that however excellent these are, those four elements include one of the best local vocalists & one of the best guitarists: attributes which I think will be commented on by more & more people as their profile rises. Certainly watching Lily play ("guitaring" as Sian dubbed it and I'll pinch that) was an education: she brought two guitars along with one (strung DADGAD) just for one song (whose lyrics were courtesy of a local poet who was also present) and as someone dubious of tapping techniques in rock contexts, I was bowled over by her acoustic use of the technique on a song called (I think) "Forest". And then as for Sian's voice: you need to hear that for yourselves I can tell you. It's not resistable.
There is however a vital Fifth Element: their taste allows them to incorporate a great deal of space & this contributes as much to the songs' beauty. Vocals & vocal harmonies are added & subtracted all the time. Songs have passages with two guitars, or one or none.
Another reason I especially needed to catch Bar Pandora apart from not having done so for ages was because, inspired by the occasion, Charlie had opted to go acoustic.
I had no idea how this would work: to be the Bar Pandora songs had their electronic instrumentation as an essential part of their being and are based on a cut-up principle. Since I harp on continually about Charlie's artistry and breadth of vision, I really had no grounds for doubt. Conceiving of the apparently non possible is her thing isn't it?
So we got to hear classic Bar Pandora songs like "Ultramess", "Vice Vice Vice" "Recreate This" & "Dear Man" played on basically an acoustic guitar with Matt Rheeston playing a bare bones "kit" of muffled snare with a suitcase for bass drum.
And all were totally recognisable despite having none of the instrumentation of the recorded versions. So essentially the songs were so strong in their composition that they translated without a hitch.
I used the word "basically" deliberately. Those elements were the framework but Charlie also occasionally reproduced synth lines vocally & perhaps to the greatest delight of the audience, had a tiny piano on which she even more occasionally played the odd note: it provided a very satisfactory synth like "plink" and drew us back to the original like the merest aroma on the breeze.
Like Reign the Girl Band, Bar Pandora's new arrangements utilised space to great effect. Her guitar playing and singing were as staccato as on the studio versions (and retaining the abrupt endings presented with a bit of a dilemma as her customary one legged stance to indicate closure wasn't on from her seated position) and she made tremendous use of the Gestalt law of closure too: inviting our brains to fill in the gaps between what we were hearing and what we were familiar with.
At this point, I need to confess. with the stripped back arrangements, I revisited my engagement with the lyrics (on the recorded versions, the processed vocals blend into the arrangements so perfectly that I possibly didn't discern them as clearly as I might) and concluded that some of my interpretations in my original reviews might not be what I'd now write. I have apologised to Charlie & now you.
It wasn't all old material either: she unveiled two new songs (presumably they'll be on the album), both of which worked really well. The power in concert of one of them even took her by surprise and she now feels it needs henceforth to close the set (though in fairness it was the penultimate one yesterday).
Inspiring as the two sets were, we need next to swing back to why these musicians gave of their talent and the audience their time.
The Crypt Sessions help subsidise Food Union activities (including large free events such as the Harvest Festival) and in their own words "these gigs are very special. When we founded the Food Union in 2014 we didn't envision this, but our whole ethos is based on cultivating new opportunities and connecting people, and music is the best vehicle for that".
I completely agree: just like plants, ideas like the Food Union grow & can put out the most unexpected & vivid blossoms: I think building sustainable communities for those who care & reject the ideologies of division could easily encompass many linked strands: ecological, altruistic, artistic: they are all part of the cool web.
The next Crypt Session is on December 19th with Stylusboy and there is a Bonfire Special Song and Soil event at Sherbourne Valley allotments on November 1st with Donnelly and South.
More immediately, Charlie & Lily are hosting a jam/meet-up for local female musicians of all abilities today (Saturday) at Talking Birds: which sounds like a great idea.
