It’s got the feel of a late summer Sunday evening down at Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club. The outside tables are full as the sun sets, locals enjoying the last throes of the season before we move completely into Autumn.
It’s warm, relaxed and gentle. The music in the venue’s Main Room matches that mood to perfection this evening. Flyte – Will Taylor and Nick Hill’s project – have just released their fourth studio album, bringing them out on a UK, US and European tour.
Opening at Brudenell was Lumi, a Dutch duo who have made their first trip to the UK to join Flyte on this tour. Their set is a rich soundscape of electronic folk-pop, set against their beautiful harmonies. Reminiscent of Dolores Forever, the blend of vocals is perfect, it’s hard to know where one voice ends and the other begins. A stunning opening to the evening.
The room fills further as Lincolnshire’s Elanor Moss takes the stage and opens her heart through some beautiful, vulnerable pieces. Her voice in the opening song – The Knife and the Needle, which will be the title of her first album, due for release in 2026 – recalls the raw emotion of Eva Cassidy, and when she delivers a great cover of Joni Mitchell’s Cactus Tree, it’s clear where her influences lie. Comparisons aside, she is capable of some affecting storytelling herself, captivating an audience with an understated performance that kept virtually every phone in a pocket, as they were fully immersed in Moss’ words.
Flyte climb on to the stage to cheers from the crowd, joined by Elanor Moss who provides additional guitar and vocals for a number of songs, and move straight into Emily and Me, from the new album Between You and Me. It immediately picks up from where we left off, with the stripped back, raw feeling from Moss’ set. Theirs is a sound built on intimacy and introspection, particularly in the new material.
Alabaster, which features an electronic drum beat played through a cassette recorder (“because we don’t have any electronic drums”) has a different feel – a rougher edge through the fuzzy guitar and prominent bass line. I’m So Down feels intensely personal and raw, written quickly, as the rest of this record was. Taylor explains during the set that “we don’t know the new album that well”, something he puts down to not overworking it in the writing or studio process.
We’re in Yorkshire so – after the inevitable chats of “Yorkshire! Yorkshire!” from the crowd – Taylor’s partner, the wonderful Billie Marten, joins the band on stage for I’m Not There. A Yorkshire native, Marten gets a hero’s welcome on the hallowed Brudenell stage.
All bar one of the songs from the new record get an airing during the set, and it’s an evening full of intricate, intimate music. Nowhere is this better shown than when the 4 musicians put down their instruments and gather centre stage around a single microphone to deliver a stunning a capella version of Archie, Marry Me.
3 acts, at different stages in their evolution, but from Lumi, to Elanor Moss and Flyte – with the bonus appearance of Billie Marten – it’s hard to picture how another night could deliver such rawness, honesty and impeccable musical quality.
