Featuring headliners; Gymnast, Lei Freda and Bill Orrick…
In January 2012, Band On The Wall’s Picturehouse Bar began hosting a fortnightly free acoustic night, showcasing the goldmine of unsigned musical talent in Manchester and the surrounding area. One year on, The Sunday Sessions has grown into one of the most well-established and well-respected nights on the Manchester acoustic scene.
With free open mic slots from 6.30pm and fantastic headline acts from 9pm, players and appreciators alike are guaranteed the best possible musical end to the week.
Formed in the summer of 2012 from the ashes of Edinburgh 5-piece Mayhew, Gymnast are a song-writing duo who seem to defy comparison. The balance struck between Cathy Wilcock’s haunting vocal and Chris Lyon’s subtle yet innovative instrumentation creates a musical effect which is infinitely more than the sum of its parts. With beautiful, lyric-driven songs, underpinned by spartan, atmospheric beats, drifting keys and brooding strings, Gymnast will sweep you along on a wave of quiet tranquility.
If you frequent Manchester’s well-established circuit of free acoustic nights on a semi-regular basis, you will, from time-to-time, stumble across a vocalist, hitherto unheard of, whose voice makes you sit up so fast you spill your pint. Lei Freda is one such singer, with a voice that is pure and powerful and wonderfully dynamic, and beautifully crafted, soul-infused songs that will have you rapt from start to finish. A perfect way to start the Sunday Sessions’ 2013.
There seems to be no end to the flood of acoustic talent making the trip down from the Lancashire hills to ply its musical wares at Sunday Sessions. This week sees the turn of the hugely talented Preston singer-songwriter, Bill Orrick. Part of the Red Rose Roadshow and Sofa Sessions line-up (featuring Sunday Sessions favourites Tom Metcalfe, Jamie Brewer, Baxter Rhodes and David Shurr), Bill plays dark folk-pop, underpinned by soulful, impassioned lyrics and ‘a penchant for strange chords on twangy guitars’.