Songs From The Shed and Fran Smith's EP

I came across Songs from the Shed about a year ago and really wish I’d found it sooner because it’s just bloody fantastic! Jon Earl’s fabulous shed, a former army billet, is treasure trove of curiosities and paraphernalia (as any half decent shed should be), that opens its doors to acoustic sessions from a huge array of eclectic musicians from pretty much every genre under the sun.  Some artists are household names such as Tim Minchin, Passenger, King Charles, SethLakeman, KT Tunstall, and John Smith to name but a few. Whilst some are less well known but by no means less talented, such as Nuala Honan, Hunter and The Bear, and the Carrivick Sisters. The performances in the shed are always incredible engaging as the musician’s personalities and passions shine through their performances.

I urge you all to check out the Songs from the Shed YouTube channel as it’s a fantastic way of seeing some phenomenal musicians perform live acoustic sets in an extremely intimate environment. You can see some of your favourite musicians perform, and of course, discover and fall in love with numerous new artists; just like I did when I discovered the wonders of Fran Smith.

Fran is a singer/songwriter from West Yorkshire who has supported Thea Gilmore on tour and played at Radio 2’s Live in Hyde Park concert last September.  Her self-titled EP came out back in 2012 and Oh My Days it is stunning! Fran’s fabulously northern voice wraps its way around lyrics that perfectly balance breath-taking beauty with brutal honesty in a way that hits you with a multitude of mixed emotions, demonstrating her exceptional song writing prowess .

This version of Take These Bones that Song From The Shed put up a couple of weeks ago was  the first I had ever heard of Fran and I just fell in love with the gut-wrenching honesty of the lyrics ‘I only like myself about half the time’.  I stopped what I was doing and listened to it over and over again.

Source: http://fransongs.bandcamp.com/
18/01/14

The EP takes you through the up and downs of a tumultuous relationships. The opening track Ghost of Chance, begins with a simple yet beautiful piano melody, followed by mournful strings and then Fran’s haunting voice, telling the joys and the dangers ‘I’m a fire these days not an ember’ of the moment you have to take a risk and leap into a relationship ‘could you stand to be loved by me?’.

All These Wicked Things has a fuller, moodier sound, as it tackles the darker aspects of this unhappy relationship ‘the flimsy little love-lines you have fed me’. The strings on this track are glorious, creating a wonderful sense of angst, that underpinned by Fran’s beautiful piano playing as she asks ‘Will I come to call you, the most glorious mistake I ever made?’, still maintains that captivating enchantment found in Ghost of a Chance.

The third track on the EP is quite simply, heart-breaking, as more than any other it displays the subtle purity of Fran’s voice and the extent of her lyrical mastery.  The imagery she creates in We Will Have No More Marriages is absolutely exquisite.

‘I have scorned every free bird that chose not to fly,

Now wing-clipped and pinioned am I’

I have always had a soft spot for sad songs as I think they create the truest emotions but the resignation to heartbreak and solitude in this song is on a whole new level.

‘And let them all say “She drowned in sin”,

‘Cos only you and I know how true I’ve been’

I don’t know what else to say about it other than it’s just bloody beautiful!

The final song on the EP is the first one I ever heard and my absolute favourite, Take These Bones. Despite still being fairly heart-breaking, it is the happiest song of the bunch as it does leave you with a slight sense of hope ‘And we’ll make success, out of being a bloody mess’.  It feels like Fran is throwing caution to the wind, admitting her faults and finally letting go of all the things that tied her down. I think the song has a fantastic of sense of “Feck it, things are pretty crap but to hell with it, let’s just give it a go”. Which I think, on the whole, is a fairly good attitude to life.

The mix of piano and voice has always had the power to create heart-breaking beauty and Fran’s EP is a magnificent example of this. I relish the opportunity of seeing Fran play live at some point in the (hopefully not too distant) future. Although, I can guarantee it will be one of those concerts where I leave with a slightly tear-stained face. Its hay fever. Honest.

Love
S
xxx