DG SOLARIS + HATTIE WHITEHEAD – THE CON CLUB, LEWES 21.3.24
The first ever Brighton & Hove News music review was back on 15th March 2017 and featured headliner Laish (pronounced ‘Lie-shh’) who was playing at The Prince Albert in Brighton. Laish being the moniker of talented musician and producer Danny Green along with his friends as a band. You can read the review of that night’s events HERE. By that time Danny had been leading the Brighton (and later London) alternative folk scene for some years having begun in 2008 and at that stage released a trio of albums, these being ‘Laish’ (2010), ‘Obituaries’ (2013) and my favourite ‘Pendulum Swing’ (2016). ‘Time Elastic’ then followed 13 months after the concert in April 2018.
The following year life was moving on for Danny, he had met his wife-to-be, got married and headed out West. That’s not West to Americana land in the USA, but West to a picturesque small village 5 miles north-east of Frome in Somerset. The songwriting continued, but this time in association with his bride Leana and thus Laish was put to rest and DG Solaris was born. They released their debut album on 19th June 2020, to positive reviews from Rolling Stone, GodIsInTheTV, and Folk Radio UK, and radio play from BBC 6 Music and BBC Bristol.
Danny is blessed with a warm and affecting voice, and his wry, eccentric guitar pop compositions are sung from the heart. He has been regularly performing to and converting audiences across the world by playing hundreds of shows and appearing at festivals around the UK, Europe and the States including ‘End Of The Road’, ‘Cambridge Folk’ and ‘Larmer Tree’. When on stage Danny is relaxed and at home and understands how to interact with the punters by making them laugh and warm to him. He seems to thrive in these intimate encounters and so when we caught wind that Danny was to make the plus three hour pilgrimage back to his old stomping ground, we had to go and check him out.
Thus tonight we find ourselves sitting in The Con Club in Lewes as part of their Hilltop Sessions event, which are a series of monthly live gigs featuring a range of independent artists performing original material. They usually take place on the first Thursday of most months. Hilltop Sessions was created – and is curated – by Lewes based artist and musician Maia Eden and her husband Oliver Dudok van Heel, a member of pop-up busking troupe The Magnificent Kevens. Maia and Oliver met through a shared love of music and when the pandemic hit they realised how much they missed live music and how much the pandemic threatened musicians’ livelihoods and careers. Thus after the curfew was lifted the Hilltop Sessions were born in order to give musicians a platform and to do their bit for the grassroots music scene. After tonight, there are currently three other nights already planned. These feature Michele Stodart and David Ford on 16th May (info and tickets HERE), Darden Smith and Reema on 20th June (info and tickets HERE), and Lady Maisery and Chris Fox on 17th October (info and tickets HERE).
Back to tonight and the event gets under way with the arrival of the charming Hattie Whitehead who according to her Bandcamp page was “Raised on folk and jazz greats of the sixties and seventies, her smart lyrics and powerful, outspoken female voice blend folk sensibilities with an undeniably modern sound inspired by her discovery of artists like Kurt Vile, Angel Olson and Wolf Alice”.
We are seated at the front and have a circular table on which to place our well-earned ale, and carefully avoiding the tea night light which adds to the atmosphere. Hattie is with us from 8:18pm until 8:49pm and during that time delivers a half dozen tunes on her acoustic guitar. Her vocals are peaceful, clear and of sound quality. She begins with ‘I Have Often’ which is the lead tune from her November 2023 5 track ‘Mechanism’ EP. After this we are treated to ‘Valentine’ and then ‘You Tell Me So’, with these highlighting Hattie’s great depth of vocals without hardly any effort, which is impressive. Her face sparkles with joy as she informs us that that the next tune, ‘Sonny’, was penned nine years ago and is about her brother and the memories of him swimming out to sea wearing his snorkel and not being aware of how far out he is, thus the lines “Sonny swims for miles” is repeated. From an old tune, Hattie then informs us that she will be releasing her debut album later on this year and the lead single from it will be dropping next month and this is called ‘Alive’. This features the repeated line “What are we doing here?” and was for me the choice tune of her set. This bodes well as it is an indicator of more decent material in the pipeline. Hattie signs off with ‘Read My Mind’ from last year’s ‘Mechanism’ EP. Our group were particularly taken with Hattie’s vocals and are looking forward to the announcement of a future Brighton concert. I understand that The Folklore Rooms will be the venue of choice.
Hattie Whitehead:
Hattie Whitehead – vocals, guitar
Hattie Whitehead setlist:
‘I Have Often’ (from 2023 ‘Mechanism’ EP)
‘Valentine’(unreleased)
‘You Tell Me So’ (unreleased)
‘Sonny’ (from 2015 ‘Home’ EP)
‘Alive’ (from forthcoming 2024 album)
‘Read My Mind’ (from 2023 ‘Mechanism’ EP)
After a 19 minute interlude the live music is back on track with the arrival of DG Solaris to the stage. It’s just Danny and his Squier Jazzmaster electric guitar and two acoustic guitars on offer this evening, but Hattie will be invited back for a short stint. The 85 minute 14 tune performance ran from 9:08pm until 10:33pm. Danny begins by saying that he will be playing “some new songs and some old songs” and that after a three and a half hour car journey he’s raring to go!.
And raring to go he is, as set sets off with I believe a newbie tune ‘I Once Was’ which Danny tells us is about “getting older”. Vocally this reminded me of ‘Sit Down’ by James and it’s a light-hearted tune that bounces along nicely. Another new tune follows in the form of ‘You’ll Know’, which was penned about falling in love. This is a more reflective dreamy number which benefits from cleverly looped guitar sections, and reminded me very much of Richard Hawley. After two numbers with his Squier electric guitar, Danny switches to one of his acoustic guitars for the title track of his 2022 ‘Crashing In The Waves’ EP which is a song about the moment when a relationship is over.
It’s treat time next as we receive the debut live outing of another new track, this being ‘Can You Take Control’. After this Danny switches over to his other acoustic guitar in order to play us his very quiet rendition of Bill Callahan’s ‘Rock Bottom Riser’ which was culled from Bill’s 2005 ‘A River Ain’t Too Much To Love’ album. Danny then switches back to his Squier and invites Hattie back to the stage as they duet on ‘Love Is Growing’ from the Laish ‘Time Elastic’ album. They then go on to perform a Hattie Whitehead composition, this being ‘If You Hide’, which sees Hattie on guitar and vocals and Danny on backing vocals.
Hattie then leaves the stage and Danny informs us that the next new tune, ‘It Won’t Be Long’, was written in reference to his two bundles of joy – He has two small children now. This was followed by his take on Tom Waits ‘Come On Up To The House’ from the 1999 ‘Mule Variations’ album, which Danny dedicated to a dear friend that had passed away. The Squier is back in action for the title track of the 2018 Laish ‘Time Elastic’ album. The song we were informed flowed out of his body as a direct result of hearing of the passing of Arthur Cave (15) who was Nick Cave’s son who sadly fell from cliffs at Ovingdean Gap on 14th July 2015. Cave was to also lose his eldest son, Jethro Lazenby, in 2022. ‘Time Elastic’ once again made great use of the guitar loops and thus at times left Danny to simply hold the mic and pour his heart out. I have seen Danny performing live on several occasions and this tune tonight was delivered with the most raw emotion I have ever witnessed from him. There’s true empathy going on here with Danny now too being a father. Without question, the choice track of the evening as agreed by our team.
It was back to one of the two acoustic guitars for the title tune from 2020’s ‘Spirit Glow’ album, for which saw the return of Hattie to the stage for backing vocals. This was the final number of the main set, but we were to get a trio of other tunes, the first being ‘Warm The Wind’ from the Laish 2013 ‘Obituaries’ album, a tune we are told was inspired by Nick Cave. After this Danny asked the punters if they had any requests, there were! The first being 2018’s quiet ‘The Fox’ from the ‘Time Elastic’ Laish album, which Danny informed us came fully formed after waking from a dream. The second request was put forward by yours truly as is my favourite track by Danny, this being the iconic rockin’ 2016 Laish tune ‘Learning To Love The Bomb’, found on his ‘Pendulum Swing’ long player. It was a great way to sign off and I left the venue feeling warmed by the music and company.
DG Solaris:
Danny Green – guitars, vocals
Hattie Whitehead – vocals
DG Solaris setlist:
‘I Once Was’ (unreleased)
‘You’ll Know’ (unreleased)
‘Crashing In The Waves’ (from 2022 ‘Crashing In The Waves’ EP)
‘Can You Take Control’ (unreleased)
‘Rock Bottom Riser’ (Bill Callahan cover from his 2005 ‘A River Ain’t Too Much To Love’ album)
‘Love Is Glowing’ (with Hattie Whitehead on backing vocals) (from 2018 ‘Time Elastic’ Laish album)
‘If You Hide’ (with Hattie Whitehead on guitar and vocals) (Hattie Whitehead song)
‘It Won’t Be Long’ (unreleased)
‘Come On Up To The House’ (Tom Waits cover from his 1999 ‘Mule Variations’ album)
‘Time Elastic’ (from 2018 ‘Time Elastic’ Laish album)
‘Spirit Glow’ (with Hattie Whitehead on backing vocals) (from 2020 ‘Spirit Glow’ album)
(encore)
‘Warm The Wind’ (from 2013 ‘Obituaries’ Laish album)
‘The Fox’ (from 2018 ‘Time Elastic’ Laish album)
‘Learning To Love The Bomb’ (from 2016 ‘Pendulum Swing’ Laish album)