Some may remember Rowena as singer/guitarist for excellent local indie band Stacy Says.  Rowena’s band is larger now, with two additional guitarists allowing her to play keyboards or even pick up the mic and roam the stage, as she did for an excellent cover of No Doubt’s Don’t Speak that I prefer to the original.

Rowena’s set covered much stylistic ground, and her nimble band handled faster and more upbeat punkish songs as well the slower more emotive material.  She opened with a lively number that had the crowd moving from the introduction.  A couple of solo piano numbers in the middle of the set slowed things down before finishing the full band part with Scared of the Dark, another fiery song with a great melody that should be the next single.  Rowena concluded the set with a couple of acoustic songs accompanied by Luigi Donnarumma (Cat Lucky) on vocals and guitar.  Like a latter-day Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, their voices blended in sweet harmonies that carried the show to it’s conclusion.

The highlight of the afternoon was her stunning first single, Your Mother’s Clothes.  The song chronicles the end of a relationship with disarming honesty.  Her emotive voice gives additional weight to words that cut right to the bone.  It was one of the best songs released last year and a strong indication that Rowena has a very bright future in the indie rock world. 

Urban Youth are one of those bands whose name suits their sound.  I don’t know if it was by design, but when I first saw them supporting We All Want To, also at the Grace Emily, in 2019, I expected something shoegazy, a little noisy, and definitely melodic.  They didn’t disappoint on that occasion, and now, a little over eighteen months later, they are even better.  Featuring Ariya Gabell, the best singing drummer since Grant Hart, Navar Tainton on guitars and Harry Visintin on bass and guitars, Urban Youth have the kind of chemistry that makes all great bands.

The three members have a great handle on dynamics, and their set covered broad sonic territory.  Tainton’s guitar solos were expressive, and his use of effects pedals intelligent and intuitive, always using them to enhance the emotional impact of the song and melodies rather than as a wall to hide behind or as a means to dazzle.  The set was a thirty-five-minute undulating batch of songs that Sonic Youth would be proud to call them their own.  These guys are the real deal, and while their influences are clear, they also do their own thing their own way.  All three members share lead vocals, often sung in unison, but also with sweet and sometimes ethereal harmonies that add another layer of complexity to the songs.  Single Origami is a perfect example of this, the Sonic Youth-ish guitars complementing the vocals perfectly as the penultimate song of their set.

Urban Youth have been around for quite a while now, and to date Origami is their only official release, although another song (The Longest Summer) can be found on their JJJ Unearthed page and is well worth downloading.  They had no trouble filling out their set with top shelf tunes, so here’s hoping that they record some more for release in the not too distant future. For fans of MBV, Sonic Youth, Swervedriver.