Newbury's ACE Space audience 'spellbound' by singer songwriter

Hannah Scott and Suthering at Ace Space, Newbury, on Saturday, May 21. Review by Brian Harrington

This was a truly excellent double-header contemporary folk event at Ace Space. Hannah Scott opened proceedings with some beautiful thoughtful songs, many of which were from her most recent album Drawn To Darkness. She started with the title track, before moving on to Untangling, a song about separating from a relationship. Explaining her inspirations as she went, Hannah provided a fascinating insight into the mind of a songwriter and held her audience spellbound.

Letter , a track which contrasts the ease of email to the thought and care of actually putting pen to paper was beautiful, while No Gravity, a track which was used in an episode of Grey's Anatomy was exquisite. Moving from guitar to keyboards, Hannah explained her song Boy in the Frame, an incredibly poignant track inspired by conversations with her late 99-year-old grandmother, whose brother died in a tragic motoring accident in the early 1930s.

Hallelu and How To Hear, a track inspired by her mother's time as a teacher and the importance of listening were excellent and the (well-deserved) encore of Skimming Stones capped off a beautiful set perfectly.

Suthering (which apparently means the sound of the wind through trees or under a bird's wing) are a duo comprised of Julu Irvine and Heg Brignall, opened with a wonderful acapella Hebridean piece Seagull Of Land Under Waves and again provided the audience with a captivating glimpse into the songwriting process through their thoughtful and often very amusing explanations of their songs. Kingfisher, for example, being inspired by walks during covid lockdown by a canal. Downfalling, a track commemorating time spent as a POW by Heg's grandfather was wonderful, as was Boatman, the final track on their album If We Turn Away.

Their loudly demanded encore was a beautiful a capella rendition of Blood And Gold, a Silly Sisters track. Phenomenal harmonies and superb arrangements.

Hugely entertaining.