Music / Review
Review: Emily Magpie, Loco Klub – ‘It’s clear this gig is an intimate gift’
When I say I’m on the guest list for Emily Magpie, the box office lady laughs. The list is long – the band have selected their audience carefully, and I’m honoured to have made the cut. As Emily waves to familiar faces in the crowd, it’s clear this gig is an intimate gift.
The Loco Klub has been transformed into an other-worldly forest – huge leaves are projected over the walls that sway in time with the crowd. There’s real plants dotted about too, all sustainably foraged by Emily. The band bask in a soft green glow, and I feel like I’m standing on the earth rather than a bumpy carpeted floor beneath Temple Meads.
Emily beams, repeatedly asking us if we’re ready to dance. She slinks across the stage, a nymph of the Loco Klub forest, her long chiffon sleeves following her. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone play an electronic ukulele, and each pluck casts warmth between the cold arched walls. But this isn’t a tired ‘Riptide’ kind of ukulele: it refreshingly intertwines with brooding synths. The band have perfected the art of playing songs with pauses in just the right places, leaving us hanging on every word.
is needed now More than ever
The band are using music as a rallying cry for change, the gig exploring the future of our planet with the onset of climate change. It’s like a play in two acts – there’s a shift as the warm green flicks into blue, and Emily says “we’re going to get a bit apocalyptic”. Projections of fish swim across the band, as if we are drowning in a world of rising sea levels.
A nymph of the Loco Klub forest – photo: Ania Shrimpton
Track Rain’s Coming is a particular highlight – Emily grabs the mic from the stand and leaps to the front of the stage while guitarist Kieran takes off his guitar and plays it right into the speaker. Drummer Max goes so hard he even breaks the pedal.
The band take a good old-fashioned bow, and Emily promises she’ll send details of how we can all plant a tree together next week – we get to take a piece of this forest with us. Emily Magpie is saving the world, one ukulele strum at a time.
Main photo: Mia Smith
Read more: Emily Magpie album launch party set within an indoor forest
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