Billie Marten at Hare and Hounds - Live Review

Billie Marten Performs at Hare and Hounds Birmingham, touring her second studio album; Feeding Seahorses By Hand.

If you know me, you'll know that I have been a massive fan of Billie Marten for about three years now and on June 5th I finally got the chance to see her live at the intimate venue, Hare and Hounds in Birmingham. For starters, I couldn't have thought of a more fitting venue to have Billie play, the whole vibe of the classic, English pub really added to the gigs charm; The charm of an indie folk singer-songwriter who writes such beautiful, poetic lyrics and pieces this together with delicate sounding music.

Opening the show with Mice from her second studio album Feeding Seahorses By Hand really set the tone for this show, with the meaningful lyrics and steady drumbeat coupled with slow strums of an electric guitar - from the very start it was clear that she was just as good live as I was hoping for, and the songs continued to make little comparison to the record.

What I love about Billie Marten and what made this intimate gig so special; is the fact that she appears so effortless, her silky sounding voice and fluent guitar playing made this show seem so easy. The stage was made up of a keyboardist, bassist and a drummer, joined by the odd tambourine and shakers and all made for such a seamless, elegant show. The fact Billie was joined by a band this time around created such a chilled, atmospheric sound - she then joked about this being the first night of the tour, explaining that they are all "so fresh" making the crowd chuckle and making me think how lucky we were to have them at their best.

On the topic of what was said, Billie even took it upon herself to teach us a few random facts.. apparently croissants originated from Venice and not France! Who would'e thought it?! But on a serious note, it was nice to see Billie so at ease and clearly so at home on stage.
Despite being a huge fan of her second album, I did actually say to my boyfriend on the way to the gig that I hope she plays some tracks from her previous album, and you better know she did and I was very happy about it! The album Writing of the Blue and Yellows is a deeply personal album for me, I connected with it emotionally and from first listen I couldn't wait to see her live. So, on the first note of her song Live I admit... some tears did appear! 

This show was truly beautiful, Billie Marten and her band really demonstrated their pure talent and it was so nice to be in a room where you could hear a pin drop throughout every song. Already can't wait for the next tour.

Go check out Billie Marten below:

Spotify 
Instagram 
Twitter 
Facebook