Barli LIVE @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, 26.1.15

Every night of the week, up & coming singers perform their own unique material to crowds all over the country. Being someone who is lucky to witness a number of these up & coming artists perform regularly, I was immensely happy when I made a new discovery. That discover was Barli.

Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen was the venue and with a sizeable crowd in attendance, considering that it was a Monday night, the London-based singer put on a mesmeric show that immediately caught the attention of the audience, as Barli’s sumptuous vocals filled the air with a beautiful calmness.

With a number of the tracks performed coming from her Pebbles EP, which was released back at the end of 2014, Barli brilliantly sewed together the intimacy of her passionate vocals with the almost experimental sounds that her two man band laid out for her and from the moment she released that voice, the whole room was captivated.

The delicate ‘Vex’ and haunting ‘Rum Woman’ were definite musical highlights and allowed Barli to showcase the different elements that her soulful voice contains, whilst the beautifully melodic keys in ‘Rum Woman’ provided an instrumental moment to remember.

I was also surprised to find out that this was Barli’s first ever live performance as she showed no sign of nerves and maintained a huge level of professionalism and stage presence throughout. If you get the chance to head out to see a live performance from this fresh talent, make sure you do because with the uniqueness of her voice and her music, Barli is set to go far.

Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno

Matt Tarr

Matt Tarr

Urban Music Editor
With grime and hip hop being major influences on him growing up in South East London, Matt's passion is urban music but over the years he has gathered a hugely diverse taste, ranging from Wiley to The Smiths by way of Machine Head, that has made him a very open minded individual.
Matt Tarr