The Brits, they always bring their A game to SXSW. It’s almost like their economy depends on it. Here are some acts I saw at Latitude 30, the place to go for tea and crumpets, or British acts.
Charlotte OC
Charlotte OC is a R&B singer from the north of England. She’s got a great voice and she’s got all the dramatic chops of being a top notch performer down. One second she’ll look like she’s on the verge of tears as she’s singing a ballad, the next second she looks like she’ll tear your head off in an angrier song. Her tracks are typically layered over electronic beats. It was all pleasant although I feel like at times she over sings a bit. I would too if I can sing like her. Pair her with a great producer and you might have a star, the ingredients are there.
Dry The River
Dry The River have angelic voices and look like rock stars. One of the guys likes to shotgun beers during the set and looks like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. They released an album last year and appear to have another one coming this year. I believe they played some new tracks, which once again highlights their extraordinary harmonic talents and vocal work. Not sure if they’ll need to change it up in later releases to make sure they aren’t sounding samey, but this formula has been working so far.
Black Rivers
Black Rivers features Jez and Andy Williams, two of the three members of the Doves, one of my favorite bands. I was very interested to see how they sounded after such a long hiatus away from music but unfortunately, they started 17 minutes into their allotted time due to sound check problems and so we only got to hear about 4 tracks of theirs. What I heard sounded good – a bit of psych rock, and a lot of guitars. I’m not sure whether or not it was the microphone or the frustration of only being able to play a 15 minute set, but Jez Williams seemed to be struggling a bit behind the mic as a lead, and sadly, almost made me wish Jimi Goodwin was there. The ghost of rock band past, I guess.