Tape Hiss and Sparkle, Thomas Krane & Joy Smith at Alexander Bar Theatre

Posted on: April 7, 2013

Friday
5 April 2013

The small upstairs theatre of Strand Street’s Alexander Bar was the perfectly cosy venue for 3 charming folky acts – Joy Smith, Thomas Krane and Tape Hiss and Sparkle. Wow, what a lovely show.

I felt a little underdressed stepping into Alexander Bar – the place has a great vibe, inviting and classy and a step back in time. Plus I’d recently finished playing Bioshock Infinite (and by ‘playing’ I mean backseat driving while my brother played, I suck at FPS games) so, my mind freshly full of beautiful early 1900s aesthetics, I was overjoyed by the bar’s interior, it felt a bit like stepping into a little part of Columbia.

Upstairs, the theatre’s seats faced the backdrop of hanging paper banners, fairy lights and sketches and drawings contributed by audience members as well as the evening’s first performer, Joy Smith. She had that quirky and awkward vibe of many singer-songwriters, both in her music and in general. I enjoyed her set; her songs were interesting structurally as were her vocals, kinda reminding me of Björk in places.

Up next were Thomas Krane, a band with rotating members and the constant presence of vocalist/guitarist/instrumentalist Daniel Hampton. I’d seen him once before, also joined by drummer Sheldon Yoko as on this occasion, and really enjoyed the weird and compelling music and performance, so was looking forward to seeing them again.

This time round, Daniel performed the whole set (apart from the encore, a beautiful and emotional cover of Jolene) on a bass guitar, which was really impressive, he even used a capo on it at one point. I don’t know what the first song was called, but I thought it was particularly great.

There was a brief interval before Tape Hiss and Sparkle took to the stage. This was their third show together as a trio but you wouldn’t know it; they played a lot of new songs (which makes me excited for their forthcoming album) as well as some winners off the lovely Paperhawk, including Fountain of Love for which they recently released a (the band’s first) music video.

It’s no secret I’m a big fan and always love their shows and this one was no exception, in fact, I think I probably just end up liking them more after every show.