I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 8, 2024] Sweet Loretta

Sweet Loretta is from England.  They’ve been around for a while but only recently released their first EP/album.  When I looked them up, the first song I heard featured Kishi Bashi.  How odd, I thought.  I liked the song–it reminds me of Kishi Bashi’s more dancey stuff.

We arrived a little later than I thought we would, so we were in the bathroom when the first song started.  Midway through the song we heard the beginning of the Star Wars theme song.  I’m not sure why, although a few songs later, guitarist/singer Fraser Blanchflower said it was singer/guitarist Quinn Humphreys’s birthday and the Star Wars bit was for him.  Very curious what happened there.

Fraser and Quinn were very funny frontmen.  I enjoyed their banter quite a lot.  Bassist James Stickland was quiet for the whole show and drummer James Clark was from time to time a maniac behind the kit, which was fun.  Quinn said that Kishi Bashi stipulated that they needed to have an album or EP out as a stipulation of touring with him.  Not sure if that’s true, but they played the entire EP (except the opening soundscape).

Musically, they were very retro in style and sound.  I felt like their songs could have been on a John Hughes movie soundtrack.   They have great harmonies with all three guys up front singing together at times in a wall of sound.

Both Quinn and Fraser sing lead with very different tones, which made for a nicely differentiated set.

The first surprise was when they played a song that it took me a while to recognize (my wife didn’t recognize it at all).  They played “Baby Come Back” from Player.

It also turned out that Kishi Bashi played on one of their songs, “Make Ur Legs Go.”  That’s how they wound up opening for him (I’ve no idea how they met).  But Kishi Bashi played violin on the song and then told them that he’d take them on tour with him if they actually put an album out.  That inspired them to finish their EP.  For the live show, he did not come out to play with them, but they did have a sample of him playing that they used.

They played a Beatles song which seemed iffy, but it was a slightly deep cut (I’ve Got a Feeling) and they did a great job with it.

Then Kishi Bashi’s friend and bandmate Tall Tall Trees came out.  They played his song Feel Good and he played banjo and keys on it.  He stayed on stage for their final song Run, Run, Run which is super catchy.

Their whole set was fun with lots of variety.  Some of the songs were a little too adult contemporary for me, and I didn’t really enjoy listening to their songs on record.  But live they rose above that label and were a really solid and enjoyable band  And yet I found them to be kind of forgettable.  Although they were all super nice when we chatted with them while waiting for merch.

But it absolutely blew me away when thirty minutes later they all came back out and were Kishi Bashi’s backing band!

1. Talking to Yourself (Again) Ø
2. Feel So Ø
3. In The Morning Ø
4. Baby Come Back (Player song)
5. Going Forward (Everything Matters) Ø
6. Make Ur Legs Go (feat. Kishi Bashi sample) Ø
7. I’ve Got a Feeling (Beatles song)
8. Feel Good (Tall Tall Trees song, with Tall Tall Trees)
9. Run Run Run (with Tall Tall Trees) Ø

Ø No Small Parts EP (2024)