Friday 6th February 2009

Karima Francis
There are debut singers whose tender years and inexperience clearly inform their early recordings – you can almost hear the tentativeness and reserve in their vocal performances. And then there are those who clear this hurdle in one bound, who hurl themselves over the precipice, who go straight for the blood and guts of a song. Nobody who has heard Karima Francis, live or on disc, can be in any doubt as to which category the Blackpool-born, Manchester-based musician belongs to. Listening to the 21-year-old grab a melody and lyric by the throat is to experience the sound of a singer whose pent-up expressiveness was hidden away for too long, and is now exploding into glorious colour.

Two years ago at the Manchester’s In the City music conference, Francis silenced a room full of hardened music-business bigwigs, and all her gigs since then have witnessed a similar reaction. “I still have my insecurities,” admits Francis. “But I must have some confidence to get up on stage and do what I do. When an audience claps at the end of a song, I can’t understand it. I’m just stood there, and there are hundreds of people listening to my words – it’s kind of hard to take in.”

Musically, her songs – deeply personal compositions inspired both by a difficult single-parent upbringing and by moving to Manchester and falling in love – are far removed from the current vogue for folk-tinged whimsy. Comparisons have been made with Joan Armatrading and Tracy Chapman, but these offer only a superficial sense of how unvarnished and arresting – and unlike that of her contemporaries – Francis’s music is. You may search in vain for traces of her former job as drummer with a Blackpool metal band, but Francis’s melodies are nonetheless forthright and full-on, never fey or hesitant. Her lyrics are uncompromising and heartfelt, too – no English reserve here. And her voice, which will journey to the lower reaches of the register one minute, and soar to the top the next, is a once-heard-never-forgotten instrument. Amazingly, Francis only began singing properly once she’d moved to Manchester. “I just wrote a song and the voice kind of came with the words,” she says, attempting to explain her talent. “I’ve always had this range, which still shocks me.

www.myspace.com/karimafrancis

Phil King
Phil King released his debut album “Leaves” at the end of November 2006 to great public and critical acclaim. Since becoming a sought after performer on the Bristol music scene and receiving the Venue Magazine Roots Artist of the Year award at the end of 2005, he now plays throughout the UK. His music has been played on regional radio stations across the UK, as well as on BBC Radio 2.'

"Supremely talented Bristol-based singer, PHIL KING. He has a voice to die for." – Time Out, London


www.phil-king.net
www.myspace.com/philmking

Acoustica is an all seated event: Tickets £10 adv / £11 on the door
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