Every year when the Neighbourhood Weekender line-up is announced, I do a deep dive into all of the acts on the poster that I haven’t heard of.
Through doing this, I’ve discovered the likes of Confidence Man, Wet Leg, CMAT, The Royston Club and most recently – Sunday (1994).
The Transatlantic trio is made up of real life couple and long-time musical collaborators Lee Newell, from Slough, and Paige Turner, of California, along with Peruvian drummer Puma.
Their exceptional self-titled debut deluxe EP quickly became one of my most listened to on Spotify last year, despite only dropping in September, and when they announced the vinyl version I couldn’t order it quick enough.
I was lucky enough to catch them on their first ever UK tour at the intimate 350-capacity Arts Club Loft in Liverpool and it feels a pretty safe bet that they won’t be playing small venues like this for very long.
Despite getting to the venue after doors opening, Mrs Molloy and I managed to secure a pretty good spot a couple of rows back from the stage. We were pleasantly surprised by support act Beaux, who we’d never heard of prior to the gig but he had a couple of really catchy tunes and is releasing his debut album next month.
Sunday (1994)’s music is very cinematic so it seemed fitting that they were accompanied to the stage by the stirring classical masterpiece ‘Adagio For Strings’, which was famously used in Oscar-winning film Platoon.
A perfect blend
It was a Friday night in Liverpool and if the crowd weren’t already up for it, then they certainly were when the opening bars of ‘Blonde’ kicked in. Turner’s dreamy vocals were every bit as exquisite live as they are on the record, with Newell’s shoegazey guitar licks and Puma’s drumming complementing her perfectly. They were also joined on stage by Californian bassist Lola Colette, who provided additional backing vocals.
Despite Newell being from Slough, there is something quite surreal about seeing the band in a setting as British as this, especially when Turner – wearing a white sundress and black leather boots – speaks to the crowd for the first time in her American tones. However, there is something quintessentially British and down-to-Earth about the band’s cynical, melancholic, and often quite dark lyrics.
Turner’s elegance is juxtaposed brilliantly by the animated Newell, who manages to display his quirky personality and sense of humour, without ever distracting from her ethereal performance. During the title track of second EP ‘Devotion’, he playfully does a thumbs down gesture during the line ‘God save our gracious King’ and later in the set quips “who wouldn’t be sad about having to go back to Slough”.
Every song from the self-titled debut EP gets an outing, along with three tracks from Devotion. The only glaring omission from the setlist is ‘Doomsday’, which was released as the lead single from that record just three months ago. Following the band’s rapid rise, they signed a record deal with Artista and RCA and the absence of the track potentially hints at it being a favourite of the label rather than the band. Turner does briefly acknowledge it with a knowing smile, simply telling fans of the song “it’s not your lucky day”.
The 12-song set flies by and huge breakthrough track ‘Tired Boy’ (which has amassed more than 3.5 million listens on Spotify) is a fitting closer, which sees Turner hopping off the stage and heading for the barrier for a euphoric sing-a-long with her fans.
This weekend also sees Sunday (1994) take to the Viola Beach Stage at Neighbourhood Weekender but on this evidence, they won’t be playing tiny stages like that for long, so my advice would be to make the most of it and get yourselves down to the front.
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