Natalie Duncan demonstrated that she is an accomplished pianist, singer and song-writer with huge potential.
My wife and I had seen Natalie perform once before in 2012 at Boisdale on a night when we sat a long way from the stage and there were too many people more interested in their drinks and their loud conversation than the music which diminished our enjoyment. The 606 offered a much better opportunity to concentrate on the music.
Natalie opened with a lengthy instrumental piece that she had written herself called ‘Infinite Streams’ which showed that she is a gifted pianist and composer. She was supported on this by her band: Alan Mian (Bass), Dave Browning (Drums) and Jake Elkan (Guitar). After playing this, she admitted to being very nervous, but it had not shown in her piano playing. She concluded her first set with two solo songs ‘When The Castle Falls’ and ‘Amber’ which highlighted her soulful voice.
The second set consisted of a number of songs: ‘Autumn’, ‘Nova’, ‘Ripples’, ‘Strange’, ‘In-Solitude’, ‘Brave’, ‘Old Rock’, ‘Atrium’, ‘Pause’, ‘Sirens’ and ‘Diamonds’. They were all self-penned and most have not been released yet. Some were performed by Natalie for the very first time. ‘Old Rock’ was the first song that Natalie wrote when she was nineteen years old and was about one of the regular customers at a pub where she worked. Natalie writes very strong melodies and the band augmented her piano playing well and was joined for the final five numbers by Alan Mian’s brothers: Ricky (Sax) and Dave (Trumpet). Some of the melodies were so sumptuous that I started to wonder how good they would sound with either a string quartet or orchestra.
Natalie’s performance was received well by her audience and she was called back for an encore of ‘The Sky is Falling’ which was the only song I remembered from 2012.
Natalie is a richly talented artist and it is certainly worth watching her future progression.
Johns London Music Reviews 