Live

Say She She: The Village Underground London 31/08/23

A very excited crowd greeted Say She She. Three vocalists, are Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. The rapturous opening number ‘C’est Si Bon’ got proceedings off to a promising start. The vibe continued with "I’m Not A Fortune Teller" replete with pumping bass, wah guitar and lolloping drums over some killer vocal hooks.

The pace was fast in between numbers too, no mucking around as these 3 to 4-minute vignettes flew by, conveniently leaving you "Reeling" which happened to be next up. It’s a banging, uptempo belter bolstered by nimble bass with operatic touches courtesy of the angelically dressed Sabrina. The dynamic is compelling with piercing Chaka Khan like ‘head voice’ touches from Nya and sexy cooing from Piya. There’s plenty of unison singing Bananarama style, but when they harmonise, the true vocal power comes forth.

The backing four-piece band sounded meaty too, glued together with juicy rhodes piano and a hard-hitting rhythm section. They got their moment to shine mid-sett as the girls went off for a well-earned breather.

The 12/8 tune ‘Prism’ my fave, really sounds tough live and promotes just how good this trio are melodically. It’s no wonder Karma Chief Records signed them. Karma Chief a subsidiary of Coalmine Records, was born in 2018 with the first signing being the Grammy-nominated Black Pumas. Since then, the ever-growing and ever-diverse roster of Karma Chief has grown to include Ghost Funk Orchestra, Neal Francis, Rudy De Anda, GA-20, The Gabbard Brothers, Michael Nau, M Ross Perkins, Andrew Gabbard, Kendra Morris and now these rising starlets.

Suffice it to say, Shoreditch was the right pitch, in a packed and sweaty old warehouse in Shoreditch that proved to be the right setting as half of London’s millennials appeared to be there and quite a few with Khruangbin tees on (another cult band) so this outfit kind of know their market and with heavy plaudits coming in for their sparkling debut album, this band are rising most definitely to the top.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KARMA CHIEF
Words Emrys Baird