Lizzie No & Friends at The Grace
Finding Americana and grunge-soul music in Islington
There’s so much music about (from the past and the present) that I often have a hard time keeping up with new releases. One of my favourite albums from this year, however, has been Halfsies by US singer-songwriter Lizzie No, who I first learned about from a Bandcamp article back in 2021 (Independent Black Artists Are Changing the Landscape of Country Music by Marcus K.Dowling).
I’m a huge fan of albums that you can listen to from beginning to end, and Halfsies definitely is that. In an interview with Lizzie No on the Basic Folk podcast, I was interested to hear her say that the album is structured like a videogame, with each track representing a “level” that the main character – named Miss Freedomland – must complete in order to move on to the next stage.
I didn’t pick up on this on first listen, but, like all the best albums, Halfsies rewards repeated listening, with lyrics, images, and entire songs that might pass you by at first suddenly coming into focus later. There’s a story being told here, one that traces the main character’s journey from psychological distress to peace of mind.
The choice of instruments on each song plays an important role in telling this story. On the opening title track (which features the wonderful opening lines “Spaceman waved from an asteroid/Paul Simon waved from Queens”), the dominant instrument is the drums, which combines with some shrieking violins to create a vivid picture of the protagonist’s thought process.
The gently plucked harp and soft vocal harmonies on “Sleeping in the Next Room” feel like the calm after the storm, only for the roaring electric guitars of “Lagunita” to throw us back into turmoil. This continues throughout the record, with each track representing its own unique world for our main character to inhabit.
The centrepiece of Halfsies is “The Heartbreak Store,” which I think deserves to be a hit. It has all the hallmarks a classic country song, and I like the idea of a physical store where sad memories can literally be sold away. The music video for “The Heartbreak Store” – which celebrates the joy of line-dancing – is directed by Annalise Lockhart, the filmmaker behind the unsettling sci-fi horror short film Inheritance (2021).
I saw Lizzie No perform live earlier this year at The Stables in Milton Keynes, when she opened for the excellent John Smith. Unfortunately, I was late to the show, so only got to see the last three songs of her set – “The Heartbreak Store,” “Deadbeat,” and “Annie Oakley” – and so I was delighted to learn that she would be returning for her first UK tour as a headliner in July, beginning with a show at The Grace in Islington.
For this performance, Lizzie had recruited two up and coming London singer-songwriters, Ashaine White and Jonny Morgan, as support acts, both of whom I was interested to see.
The Grace is a small bar a stone’s throw away from Highbury & Islington tube station, a couple of doors down from the grand-looking old Highbury station entrance. The performance space is upstairs, an intimate room perfect for an evening of mostly acoustic music.
Ashaine White – whose website describes her as playing “grunge-soul” – took to the stage first, playing electric guitar in an intricate fingerpicking style similar to that of fellow Londoner Lianne La Havas (more of whom in an upcoming post).
Ash, as she introduced herself, performed an excellent song called "Hotel,” which I made sure to seek out later.
Jonny-without-the-‘h’ Morgan, as he introduced himself, was also very good, performing songs from his album Good Luck with the Music, which he explained was the somewhat terse response he received from an ex-girlfriend’s parents after sending them a post-breakup letter. Jonny revealed that the album originally had a different, more colourful title referencing this incident, which his record label advised him to change.
And then it was time for Lizzie No. There was no grand entrance; she’d been in the audience with the rest of us the whole time, cheering on her opening acts. Lizzie was accompanied by the very tall, long-haired Will Greene on electric guitar, and her acoustic guitar and harp were waiting onstage.
It’s always interesting to hear songs performed live after becoming familiar with the recorded versions. Sometimes a song can take on new life onstage, while at other times – for whatever reason – they fizzle out. I’m happy to say that the Halfsies songs come across extremely well. The elaborate instrumental arrangements may be missing, but the most important ingredients of the songs – Lizzie No’s voice, guitar and harp – are fully present, and so it doesn’t feel as though anything has been lost.
There is a wonderful sense of ‘restrained anarchy’ to accompanist Will Greene’s electric guitar playing, which accents Lizzie’s acoustic guitar so well. It feels as though he could launch into a wild solo at any moment - and yet he never does, which creates an interesting tension. Lizzie also performed a new unrecorded song called “Silverado,” named after the film and dedicated to Danny Glover.
Lizzie No is currently touring in the US, but will return to these shores in the autumn to support Iron & Wine. On that tour she’ll be playing much larger venues than the Grace, and I felt lucky to hear these songs in such an intimate setting. As Lizzie No’s audience continues to grow, that may not be possible for much longer.
Really good overview of a rising talent - I saw Lizzie at Maverick Festival at the start of July and she made a powerful impression. Such good songs and so witty a performer. I meant to check out that London gig then forgot... Oh, well. She will return.