Rianne Downey Live at Rescue Rooms Review

Words: Tom Gensler

CREDIT : SAM CROWSTON

The last couple of years have been somewhat of a whirlwind joyride for country stalwart

Rianne Downey. From doing internet covers to releasing music to becoming the singer for

Paul Heaton (from The Beautiful South and The Housemartins) to now selling out venues across the country and releasing a huge debut album, The Consequence of Love, she’s on one hell of a winning streak, with absolutely no signs of slowing down. We went down to catch her sold-out show at Rescue Rooms, with support from folk artist Amelia Coburn.

It's not very often nowadays that you see an artist so confidently stick to one genre, but

Amelia Coburn’s relationship with folk music is a simply fantastic partnership. She crafts

songs that could easily have been passed down through the generations, in the folk

tradition, but also are modern, stylish and full of character and narrative and thought. Her

stage setup is just her and her keyboard/synth player, with Amelia playing the ukulele

herself. In all honesty, I was completely shocked at the sounds she can get of out her

ukulele, I had no idea that such a light-hearted seeming instrument could create such

intricate and dark melodies, yet Amelia can drain such powerful melodies from the four

strings. I’d go as far to describe Amelia’s well-pronounced yet ethereal sound neo-folk

leaning, with a striking similarity to Kathryn Tickell, especially in the synth and string

combo, something that I hadn’t really heard in this way. There’s a drone element that really

elevates the performance, in my opinion, helping to push it to new heights whilst still

making the music sound folky and human. Something else that is brilliant about Amelia is

her rather comedic stage persona, she riffs off about Tinder and dating and how she fears

people in the audience that can’t clap in time. This approach to humour is fantastic and

really helps to solidify her set as a wonderful 30 minutes. The highlight is a horror-inspired

song called See Saw, one that echoes the sort of low-budget creepy childhood faux horror

flicks that we all saw growing up, in one way or another. Her powerful way of capturing

emotions and feelings is fantastic. Overall, this was a very enjoyable and totally charming

set from Amelia, one that both captures her spirit yet transforms it into a unique and

brilliant live experience. I’m very excited to see what’s next for her.

Rianne bounds onto the stage in a frilly lightly-checked pink and white dress, with her

hair in a charming upwards do that’s very reminiscent of Dolly Parton, but more on that

later. She comes out with her five-piece band consisting of a guitarist, a bassist, a

drummer, a keys/synth player, and a violinist. They arrive to a charming crowd roar, the

beginning of a country climax.

The way Rianne acts on stage is truly fantastic. She almost adopts this post-modern

country belle character during most of the songs, and then returns to a smily and comedic

Scottish lady in between songs. She hits the perfect balance of performativity and

excellent musicianship on stage, which elevates her set but also contextualises the most

country-leaning songs a bit, really helping to create a very strong performance that is fun

and memorable, she is very successful at it.

Three songs in comes a huge high-point of the set, one of my favourite songs on her

album, The Song of Old Glencoe. The actual song is folk-leaning and draws off the

Scottish folk tradition in order to provide a sublime tale of Rianne’s homeland. The live

version is truly sublime, and honestly I think it's due, in part, to the unique acoustics of the

room itself (for reference I was stood front of the balcony, comfortably sat on a borrowed

chair for the evening’s entirety). The guitar sounds are amazing, Rianne’s technique is

really well-honed and elevates everything that’s played; every note is crisp and every

chord is sharp yet ethereal, she has a unique take on bluegrass picking technique and it really works for the songs recorded and for the live setting, the feeling of folkiness and

country elements throughout the set really comes into focus because of the guitar playing

from her. The song’s tales of herself and other characters really shows through live, and

the fact that such a story-telling based song hits so well live is very impressive, I was

shocked in the best way possible, Rianne and the band really do have a mastery of the

sort of performances that the songs need in order to hit as well as they do recorded.

Another highlight is the most country song on her album, Angel. This song really

captures the essence of what country is and what it can be live, with Rianne resting the

guitar and instead dancing along, performing fantastic light choreography that again just

really sells the country elements of her show. She displays such a love and knowledge for

the genre that’s really well done and really good to see.

However, the best song of the night might not be her own, but this is certainly no bad

thing. She performs a truly stunning rendition of The Beautiful South’s classic Rotterdam,

and introduces it by talking about her journey and how much Paul has helped her and

transformed her, with Rianne saying that Rotterdam changed her life. This version really

shows that, she performs it with such a love and it sounds crisp and clean and fun and

powerful; it's so clear that she sees this song as a high point for her, and she feels so

honoured to perform it; it's a truly fantastic moment of the set.

Overall, this was an extremely enjoyable and charming display of simply masterful

British country musicianship, showing modern sensibilities with a postmodern edge.

Rianne is a brilliant guitarist and an angelic vocalist and I cannot recommend seeing her

enough, whether that be with her band or Paul Heaton.