Helen McCookerybook and David Lance Callahan at The Talleyrand, Levenshulme

I went to see Helen McCookerybook and David Lance Callahan play at the Talleyrand in Levenshulme last night as part of their UK tour. They'd played Newcastle on Friday night, where it was freezing apparently. 

The Talleyrand is friendly little pub on the A6, just opposite Levenshulme Antique Market. Up front it's a regular bar, and the gigs take place in the back room.

The small, friendly, intimate nature of the venue was perfect for Helen McCookerybook's brand of wry acoustic and semi acoustic observational songs. She began her set with 'A Bad Day', which pairs well with later track 'A good life with a bad apple'. There was also the "bit smutty" satire of 'At the bathing pond', the understated but soaring call to arms 'Women of the world', a two fingered salute to Mr Musk ('So Long Elon'), lockdown optimism in the small things 'Coffee and Hope' and the idiosyncratic 'Mad Bicycle Song'. She was on sparkling form, interacting well with the audience who warmed to her increasingly as the set went on. There was even a one woman version of The Chef's 'Let's Makeup', which went down well.

I wasn't sure about David Lance Callahan's first song, which was a slow, guitar only one. He was joined by a very charismatic drummer (sporting a pork pie hat and braces) for the rest of the set though, and I got into it more after that. In addition to the hat he also had an impressive selection of well deployed percussion instruments, and a style of playing that I really enjoyed watching.

I only have vague memories of Moonshake, David's previous band, in that I think they were in the process of splitting up around the time I first started listening to John Peel. The music he was playing last night did remind me of what Moonshake were doing though, in that there was a complexity of sound and a kind of brooding quality to a lot of it. At the same time, you could tell that he'd emerged from a band who appeared on the C86 compilation (The Wolfhounds). There was that post C86 jangly indie pop sound to some of the tracks, though he used these moments judiciously and sparingly, making the audience wait for them. 

I feel like David Lance Callahan and Helen McCookerybook both critique and satirise the mores of contemporary society, often highlighting deeply dystopian aspects, but in quite different ways. His songs feel darker, but hers are just as scathing. The difference is in the musical delivery: Sometimes you smile while sticking the knife in, sometimes you just stick the knife in.

Songs of the year, number 1: hemlocke springs ‘enknee1 (Official Lyric Video)’

If Florence + The Machine's 'Mermaids' reflects the voice of experience, Hemlocke Springs' 'enknee1' is very much the voice of innocence. Like 'Mermaids', it's a song that it's possible to take multiple feelings and meanings away from, and both are songs that get better with each listen.

The going... going... GONE! EP is my record of the year and 'enknee1' really is the sweet, dreamy heart of that EP. It's the combination of ease, charm and heartfelt emotion that makes it such a beautiful song. 

As I wrote in October when I was reviewing the EP, it would be easy to write the song off as a slice of charming childlike whimsy, but the initially disarming chorus increasingly drives the song, giving it a power beyond its initial beginnings. There's a real sense of the narrater feeling bewildered with the world, of not having got it figured out yet, and of wanting to look back to how she felt as a child. "Is there anyone? Anyone out there to love me? Anyone out there to care for?" she asks plaintively so that in the end it becomes a kind of hymn to the lonely, an anthem for the lost. 

Songs of the year, number 2: Florence + The Machine - Mermaids (Official Lyric Video)

'Mermaids' was originally intended to be finished and recorded as part of the sessions for 2022's Dance Fever album. When Florence Welch broke her foot (again...) during the first of two London O2 Arena gigs back in November 2022, she was forced to postpone the rest of the UK tour until February, during which time she managed to not only finish and record 'Mermaids' with Glass Animals' Dave Bayley, but also perform 'My Love' on Strictly Come Dancing in December, albeit sitting down and wearing a floor length dress to presumably hide her poor foot. 

From such serendipity are legends made. When 'Mermaids' was released in early 2023 it was teasingly trailed via a series of Instagram videos, including one of Welch striding about a churchyard, singing "England is only ever grey or green, the girls glitter, striding glorious and coatless in the rain" and another featuring her in the bath with a mermaid tail and fangs, singing angelically "I thought that I was hungry for love. Maybe I was just hungry for blood."

The song, when it arrived, felt like a five minute synth opera made up of distinct acts and moods, taking us from Welch's eerily high opening vocals to her reminiscences of her teenage and twenties drinking days in London (she has said that lockdown was a particularly difficult time to stay sober) to feral mermaids "Climbing the slats of Brighton pier" and turning English maidens into bloodthirsty hedonistic sirens. It ends with carnage on the dance floor. It was at once typically Florence + The Machine, but also strangely outside of anything Welch and the band have ever done before. It's a song that needs revisiting and, even then, we'll probably never entirely figure it out. Which is probably as it should be. 

Songs of the year, number 3: Grace Savage | Lively Eyes | Official Music Video

Grace Savage's 'Lively Eyes' came about as a result of a request via Savage's Patreon account. It's a song that tells a true story of first love, lifelong friendship and loss, as explained in this review from Joyzine back in May. It's an incredibly touching and poignant slice of electro pop minimalism, with a soaring chorus that is very affecting. As a song it is timeless and should endure. 

Songs of the year, number 4: The Last Dinner Party - Nothing Matters

The debut single from 2023's finest up and coming band, The Last Dinner Party, is a deliciously hedonistic slice of nihilistic baroque glam and classical tinged pop. There really is nothing like this band and even the title of their incoming debut album (Prelude To Ecstasy, which will be released in February) signals a certain amount of grandiosity that they have no doubt earned. All power to them.

Songs of the year, number 5: Noga Erez | Quiet - From the Film 'Heart of Stone’ | Official Video | Ne...

Written and recorded as part of the soundtrack to the Netflix spy thriller Heart of Stone, 'Quiet' sees Erez enter soundtrack territory, an area that her particular style of edgy electro pop doesn't seem an obvious fit for. The result is as unexpected as it is atmospheric: Think Wild West cowboy swagger meets James Bond atmospherics meets Erez's unique brand of assertive electro. It's as catchy as it is dramatic, as unyielding as it is atmospheric, as much of a headrush as it is a slice of glorious pop. 

Songs of the year, number 6: Gazel - Unknowable

The first release for London based, British born Turkish artist Gazel since 2019's audacious (and criminally under reviewed) debut album Gazel's Book Of Souls, 'Unknowable' marks a tentative return for an artist who should have been capitalising on the artistry of her debut as 2020 began but who was, instead, stuck at home like the rest of us.

Gazel Algan played all the instruments, did all the vocals, designed the artwork and produced 'Unknowable' and the result is a worthy successor to Book Of Souls. It is brooding and magnificent, atmospheric and all encompassing, epic and majestic. It is to be hoped that there will be more releases soon.