After weeks, no, scrub that, months of build-up, tonight was finally the night when The Little Unsaid were to perform at The Great Hall, set within the grounds of Dartington Hall in Devon.

I was introduced to the band a few months back by my good friend Christian Murison who is the head honcho of The Blackbird Collective, a group run by a number of passionate music lovers who help out to curate and arrange gigs at certain venues around the Totnes area. Music promotor and manager Katie Whitehouse (From The Whitehouse) joined Christian to co-promote this show under the umbrella #blackbirdwhitehouse. A couple of weeks after my introduction, I was contacted by John Elliott (of The Little Unsaid) and I suggested that we do a Q&A feature for my website which he agreed to. You can read the Q&A by clicking HERE

The Little Unsaid were on a UK tour, promoting their latest long player ‘Lick The Future’s Lips’ and prior to performing at Dartington, had played shows at Saltaire, Kirby, Sheffield, Nottingham, London, Winchester and Bridport. After tonight’s show, they had four more dates on the tour to complete at Nottingham, Birmingham, Corsham and Bath.

Upon entering the hall at Dartington, you were instantly struck by its awesomeness, I now see why they call it the ‘Great’ hall, it was as if the dinner plates and trestle tables had just been cleared away from the scene in the first Harry Potter movie when everyone is in the big room seeing which ‘house’ they were to enter. Whilst there were flags hanging from the walls, I didn’t see that Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin were represented at all, which was a shame as would have added a nice touch to the proceedings.

Candles were lit as people starting to make their way into the hall, the bar was a short walk away and with an internal passageway that lead directly there, you didn’t even have to get your coat on to get a drink!

There was no support act scheduled to perform this evening, so, it was a case of catching up with friends and chatting to new ones and waiting until 8pm when Christian and Katie took to the stage to thank everyone for coming along to support live music and introduced the band.

 

Opening with ‘Bloodline’ lifted from their recent long player, it was clear to see that tonight was going to be one hell of a show. The Little Unsaid (amongst many other bands) have been cooped up for so long, the chance to get on the road, spread their wings and do what they do was quite literally ‘music to their ears’ and the audience at The Great Hall were all ears.

‘Flux’ is the opening track from ‘Lick the Future’s Lips’ and carried a wonderful beat which sounded somewhat off kilter against the piano but once things got going and the needle hit the groove, it was as if everything just came together perfectly.

 

John introduced ‘Half Alive’ as a country song and he raised his eyebrows saying that things were very testing during lockdown….. There really was no need to make excuses for the track as it sounded amazing, with nods to country music ballads, it’s slow but persistent beat carved a well-trodden path for the band to walk down. The violin sounded incredible and although a slow burning track, I feel that this was certainly a highlight of the set.

‘Bug in Amber’ was a soaring piece of sonic beauty which was underpinned by a wonderful melody, accompanied by strings and some super lush vocal harmonies which really was the cherry on top.

There was an intermission at the halfway point, a welcome break to recharge glasses, relieve bladders and prepare ones senses for the second set…..

This opened with the wonderful ‘New Years Eve’, a rich piano and percussion led offering which again, sounded immense set in the surroundings that we had the pleasure of being in tonight.

 

‘Some Miracle’ saw Tim leave the drums and pick up the bass guitar to perform a line so slick and laden with groove, it took a moment to settle with me. With the haunting effect of the violin and heavier keys midway through, it added another layer to an already incredible song.

 

The second set came to a close with ‘Road’  with its delicious beat and tempo which reminded me of the output of a wonderful band called The War on Drugs (go listen and say you don’t hear it too!). It’s a rich, multi-layered track with a massive soundscape that came to a close with all members huddled around the drums, going crazy as the audience reacted in much the same way.

‘Act of Vengence’ was dedicated to The Blackbird Collective and everyone that had helped to make the gig happen, it was upbeat, lively, it was the way that every band would like to end their set and by the time it came to a close, the roomful of fans were satisfied, their heads full of music, melodies and memories, of which there were many!  

I only made notes on tracks lifted from the new album, if you wanted to learn more about the rest of the set, I have listed it below along with the album that the track is included on.

Setlist

Bloodline *

Flux *

Human^

Half Alive*

Imagined Hymn**

Music^

Alive As^^

Bug in Amber *

Ebb & Flow***

 

Intermission

 

New Year’s Eve*

Chain^

Can We Hear It?^^

Black is the Colour

Door!**

Some Miracle*

Day is Golden**

Second Circle^^

Pass the Time*

Road^

Act of Vengeance*

 

Key

* Lick the Future’s Lips

^ Atomise

** Imagined Hymns & Chaingang Mantras

^^ Fisher King

*** December Songs

Words and Pictures by Steve Muscutt (©musomuso.com)