EVERYONE should experience a house concert at least once.
For Friday’s 30 initiates, tucked cheek to cheek in a large room outside of York, seeing Baskery was the object of the evening. Rather than establish a passing connections with tens of thousands, these concerts forge a far more lasting impression with a select few.
On record, this Stockholm three-piece are a polished pastiche of Americana and the blues, buffed to catch the eye of an American audience in search of the next Dixie Chicks.
In person, the three singing Bondesson sisters are much more entertaining, with elder sister Stella the focal point. Playing guitar and banjo (in the style of a guitar, giving it an unusual ring) while singing and playing two kick drums is quite something.
With middle sister Stella playing slapped standup double bass and youngest Sunniva, also the main songwriter, taking most of the lead vocals, they made for a powerful trio; playing American sounding songs in a barroom style.
Despite Sunniva’s on-going and sometimes bloody battle with guitar strings and tendency to over-emote, they whistled through songs from their Fall Among Thieves album, interspersed with feisty Swedish comments of presumably sisterly affection.
The second set was less impressive, but the closing Haunt You stole the show – a semi-improvised talking blues number that channelled all of the emotions from the concert, and showed the band are capable of more than attractively mirroring their influences.
Glastonbury now beckons, where they should bring the house down.
