By Lily Cottrell / Photo ©️Brian Hickey / www.devapixels.co.uk
St Mary’s Creative Space may be the prettiest venue I’ve ever seen a gig – an old church turned into an events venue, complete with beautiful stained glass windows and amazing golden carvings on the ceiling. It creates an atmosphere that’s perfectly suited for the night of folk music we are about to be treated to, especially that of headliner… Toria Wooff.
The first act of the night is Sam Moss, a songwriter and instrumentalist from Virginia. It’s a brilliant start to the evening as his chilled, slightly Bob Dylan-esque folk perfectly set the mood for the audience. Moss is an incredibly talented musician and songwriter and my personal favourite song is ‘Feathers’ from his album Swimming (released in February), that he explains was inspired by an Emily Dickinson poem. Between songs, he mentions how he carves spoons (available to buy at the merch table – very cool!) and also how he would be doing two gigs that night, both put on by Roman Candle Productions; straight after this set, he was heading to Telford’s Warehouse to do the second.
Next up is David Gorman, a Manchester-based songwriter, who continues the vibe of beautiful, powerful folk music, although now with a more indie-pop feel to it, including a rather unexpected cover of Blink 182’s ‘All The Small Things’ – inspiring a fun sing along for the crowd. Then, his recently released single ‘Darlin’ fills the ex-church, a stunning love song. His songs cover a wide range of topics – all the different ranges of human experiences and emotions – such as ‘La Mort’, which he describes as “an upbeat, catchy number about working so hard you never get to have a life.”
After a while the night’s headliner, Chester-based singer-songwriter Toria Wooff, finally takes to the stage, accompanied by Polly Virr on cello. The combination of acoustic guitar and cello creates an incredible, distinctively stunning sound, perfectly suiting each other and Toria’s ethereal vocals. Her music is probably best described as gothic folk, with songs about ghosts and the myth of Black Shuck, as well as the song ‘House On The Hill’, which she explains was inspired by the novel The Woman In Black. Songs follow from her recently released self-titled album, such as ‘Lefty’s Motel Room’ and ‘That’s What Falling In Love Will Do – stunningly emotional tracks that really show her talent as a lyricist. As well as songs from that debut, she also treats us to a few brand new songs from her second album, which she is currently working on and recording.
Toria Wooff is such a unique artist and certainly a must-see for anyone into folk music, and St Mary’s Creative Space is certainly a venue worth visiting. There aren’t many venues as magical as this.
