A few words and pics from Alan Dearling
Debdepan: ‘The Goat’ from The Omen ep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr8B2nhvmJo
Love this, their new video: absolute tongue-in-cheekiness! Go take a look…
Headliners, Debdepan at this gig were Chelsea Tolhurst and Grace Bontoft, described in publicity as, “…a 2-piece band from Kent, who make dark, melodic music influenced by Warpaint, Marika Hackman, The Cure, PJ Harvey and The Big Moon.” The band released their first ep, OMEN on the 25th of July 2023 on Bamala Newtown.
‘Omen’ is musically up-close and personal, what they say is, “…self-reflective, but never self-indulgent, a swoosh through genres and styles that feels unhurried and satisfyingly assured.”
Live, they now have a third touring member adding an electronic-style of drumming into their overall sound. Debdepan reminded me a bit of The Creatures and the rather icy, ethereal sounds characterised on many of the earlier records from the 4AD record label, for instance, those from This Mortal Coil. Another friend also mentioned the Cocteau Twins. Possibly Portishead too. These may or may not be influences. Certainly Debdepan are slightly off-kilter, offering quirky, atmospheric darkness.
‘Darkest Hour’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeHVw52AkIo
And here’s ‘Light Out’, recorded sparsely live at Ramsgate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AbK8FAdWF0
Debdepan came over as talented, good musicians, nice people, fun, and very approachable. After the gig at Eagles Crag they said: “We miss Tod already…so much so that when the van wouldn’t start we thought about staying forever.”
In support at the live gig in Eagles Crag Brewery at Robinwood Mill, near Todmorden, was the solo artist, Untitled Woman – billed as ‘electro bluestep’, she has previously been carnated as blt63. She has lived many lives, but she says, “…none of them hers. With so many ‘if only’s’… but not one regret. Order to chaos. Fragments to whole. Silence to noise. It really is never too late.”
Utilising lots of pedals and computer loops filled with her own recorded sounds, Untitled Woman was also hypnotically dark, making the best use of her powerful, jazzy-inflected voice. She sounded a little like Annette Peacock with hints of Bowie’s Jacques Brel experiments when he re-worked, ‘Amsterdam’.
Here’s a snippet from Untitled Woman’s ‘If only…’
“If only she made it then
If only she had begun
If only she had been
If only they had seen”
Untitled Woman: ‘Warrior’ on Soundcloud… is resilient, slightly odd-ball, quietly explaining that it is: “A song of love, loss and letting go.”
And her ‘On the Radio’ is also fairly austere, but extremely climatic, a bit out-of-worldly, as are other tracks including ‘If only’:
https://soundcloud.com/user-705444160