AcoustiCity featuring Mouse 10th August 2002

Saturday 10th August

Mouse, Moses and Christena Maloney

Tonight our guests were Martha Tilston and Nick Marshall of Mouse and two more friendly people you could never wish to meet. Martha is the daughter of respected guitarist Steve Tilston, so it comes as some surprise to find she didn't start playing the instrument until she was 21. Singing is a different matter, something she has done for as long as she can remember. Luckily we nabbed them as they were arranging to tour their newly remastered album Mouse Tales which got its official launch at The Borderline in London a few days later. Their first recording was the live album 'Helicopter Trees', released in May 2000, which was followed in summer 2001 by a pre-taster of the new recording.

Martha's unmistakable voice and Nick's shimmering guitar work really shone tonight. From the raw emotion of 'All I ever wanted' to the upbeat 'By the lake', which had the whole auditorium clapping and singing along, Mouse really did live up to their reputation. If you missed the show, be sure to get the album or catch one of the many gigs listed on the website.

www.mouse.uk.co

(yes it really is .uk.co!

Christena Maloney 8.30pm - 9.00pm

Opening the evening were Christena Maloney and Richard Hudspith who joined us from Cambridge, the Eastern Region's home of all things acoustic. Having met while studying music at Cambridge Regional College they found they connected very quickly and a songwriting partnership was born. Christena's voice is very powerful with a rich vibrato and the confidence to turn to a number of songwriting styles underpinned by Richard's rhythmic guitar. A colchester debut, hopefully they will return in the future, but check out dates in Cambridgeshire too.

www.cmband.net

Moses 9.05pm - 9.35pm

Closing the first half was a stripped back three piece version of London based Moses largely centred around the songwriting and vocal talents of brothers Paul & David Mosley. Literally playlisted for BBC Radio 2 the week they played for us, they went down a storm with the AcoustiCity crowd. Not only were the songs so well performed, but the hilarious banter with the audience between tracks had the whole venue in uproar, quite an achievement!

We have invited them back for a headline set early in the new year so look out for a full six piece with percussion, cello and much much more.

www.mosesband.co.uk

Please visit the various artists' websites and check out their releases and upcoming gigs. If CD sales at the end of the gigs are any judge of quality, you will not be disappointed.