Sabre Dance – Five Song Demo
Whilst organising the music for the Elsenham Street Jubilee Party I discovered we had a fine band living at the end of our road. Siblings Phoebe (vocals) and Conor McFarlane (guitar) write the songs for Sabre Dance, backed by Alex Maynard (bass), Andy Campbell Smith (drums) and Sarah Assaf (synth). Their May 2022 demos show great promise.
Phoebe’s pure and plaintive vocals are supported by sympathetic instrumentation and evocative backing vocals. And the songs are very hummable: the lyrics are not always easy to decipher but the melodies are strong enough to carry the songs. Arrangements are concise and serve the songs. Some of the songs are a bit polite for my tastes but Wired does the quiet/loud thing well with an instrumental section that sounds like a record jumping. Distant Halves would be a fine set opener. No Pressure sounds like a single to me.
The band is playing live with recent gigs include the O2 Academy2 Islington and a headline slot at Camden Assembly. Keep an eye on their Instagram for more dates
Only Rock 'n' Roll 
I hear what you mean by polite. But they have a ‘now’ sound and should be able to win fans of bands like London Grammar, The xx and Florence & The Machine who are also carving out that girl vocalist/synthy/ guitar backing. It’s kind of an update on 70s bands like Curved Air and Renaissance. My favourite song on their demo is Plaything.
Mike ________________________________
Good points. I like the Curved Air connection Mike – an early favourite of mine…