Reviewed by Becky Glass

It starts well: coats draped over rows of vinyl, spotlights on low, and a crowd so benevolent they’re emitting an actual glow. The semi-transformed Oxfam shop on Kingsland Roadis an enchanting venue from the off – relaxed, calm and unpretentious: quite a surprise for mid-town Hipsterville. Add the lively warbling of Kyla La Grange to warm up the crowd and you’ve got a winner.
We had a winner. Emerging quietly confident, murmuring the first notes of her first song, Lucy Rose’s voice washed over the jumble as bewitching, as natural, as warming as sunlight.
The effect is soporific and uplifting at once. It’s a folksy Feist; Laura Marling without grit. And it’s addictive: the melodies and the sound get into your head, as weirdly familiar as your own thoughts.
Appreciative, undemanding and solid, Lucy makes a natural stage presence, unaffected in conversation with the crowd. ‘This guitar is a terrible instrument,’ she says, ‘When I’m rich and famous enough, I’m going to smash it up on stage.’ I don’t believe her; I think she’d recycle it – but the affected shyness, the artful wistfulness that makes other female folkstresses so irritating just isn’t in her at all.
In these respects, she’s a joy to watch. But if there’s one thing Lucy’s music can be faulted on, it’s a lack of passion. There’s just no rough edge to her: her words are expressive, but don’t seem to connect with real emotions. It’s not the troubled, tortured cry we’ve come to expect from a girl and a guitar.
But for Lucy, therein lies her charm. She really seems authentic, truly herself in her music. It’s lovely, it’s honest, and in its insistence to be simple, it’s wonderfully strong.
There isn’t much around at the moment that can have such a hypnotic effect on you – especially live. If just for that, Lucy is worth a watch.
And angst is passé anyway.
http://soundcloud.com/lucy-rose/first-mix-m-02

A night of break-though indie acts brought to you by It’s All Happening, taking place at Proud Stables, Camden, all  to raise money for the wonderful work of Oxfam.
Check out the line up…

Orlando Seale and the Swell
http://www.facebook.com/orlandosealeandtheswell

What might your excuses be?
‘It’s a Sunday night’ – exactly, what else are you doing?
‘It’s £5 – that could get me a milky coffee and half a stale pastry on the way to work tomorrow’ – or it could get you a night of excellent music AND help save lives
‘Who are these bands?’ – have a listen to the links, and embrace the joy of discovering something new. It’s what makes us human. That and being unable to hang upside down from a tree.
See you there then!

Francesca Baker

Nobody here is in any doubt that Oxfam is an amazing charity. If there is any divine justice, then as a collective it must have guestlist at the celestial gates and an AAA pass around paradise. No, rather the reason that everyone’s number one reason for being in Powers this Saturday evening is to see Spring Offensive, is because they are, quite frankly, amazing.
Oxford’s (bloody brilliant) music scene have embraced Spring Offensive, and indeed the band deliver on all the city’s indie band criteria; delicate emotions are delivered with a steely resolve by the doleful Lucas, furrowed brows of each band member hover over eyes that peer just beyond you, enveloped in an aura of intelligence.

Most recent single ‘Dreams About Monsters (Part 1)’ is an epic in the dictionary definition of the word, every second of the 14 minutes grabbing the heart, swooping up all cognitive abilities, and taking them on a voyage to discover themselves. A concept piece capturing the five stages of grief denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, (as put forward by psychologist Elisabeth Kubler Ross in 1969), such a tune should not, by rights, work in a sweaty north London pub, and it’s a testament to how successful the band have been in forming a cohesive piece that continuously evolves through changing rhythms, melodies and sentiments enough to engage a booze fuelled collective.
Sprightly clip clopping on ‘A Let Down’ is interrupted by a haunting whisper of ‘could have been you’ before an almost reggae riff completes the bizarre and utterly bewitching combination that makes Spring Offensive completely evade categorisation, whilst be completely captivating. The chanting chorus of ‘Every Coin’ is deceptively unified, the feeling it creates being one of standing on transient sand.
‘I Found Myself Smiling’ grabs the emotion from every vein in the body and plants it squarely in the throat, leaving the listener choking on the lump of their own feelings. ‘If you want to find your lover, I suggest you slide into he river, like the rat that you are’ sings frontman Lucas, before four voices join for a  crescendo of gritty harmonies ‘As the water grows around my knees, I find myself smiling.’
Tonight’s set has the feeling of an embrace that leaves you with a chill – it’s not quite what one expects, with elements of the beautiful and the dark. Rather than launching a full on attack, Spring Offensive’s tactic seems to be one of quiet captivation and stealthy magic, and it’s one that’s worked on me.