Frankie Archer at The Glasshouse: Gig Review

There’s something particularly nice about a Sunday evening gig at The Glasshouse. After a fairly relaxed afternoon, we headed down to the Quayside, stopping off at Pitcher & Piano for some food before grabbing a couple of drinks and making our way over to the venue. The weather was on our side too, making the walk along the river a pretty perfect way to start the evening. Tonight, it was Madeleine Smyth opening the evening before Frankie Archer took to the stage.

Madeleine Smyth opens the evening

Madeleine Smyth looked understandably nervous when she first walked onto the stage. Performing at The Glasshouse is no small task, particularly when you’re playing in front of a room that has hosted so many established artists over the years. But if she was nervous, it certainly didn’t show in her performance.

Her set had a lovely mixture of songs, with enough variation to keep things interesting and plenty of personality between them. She had the room laughing during the moments between songs, gradually breaking down that initial nervousness and turning what could have been an intimidating performance into something really warm and engaging.

The gig left me excited to hear what these songs could become with a full band behind them. There were moments where I could already imagine drums, bass and additional instrumentation opening everything up and giving the songs another dimension. I’d love to see Madeleine return to The Glasshouse in the future with a full band because I think there’s a lot of potential waiting to be explored there. For a young artist taking on a stage like that, she should absolutely hold her head high!

Frankie Archer brings folk into the future

Then came Frankie Archer, and almost immediately it became clear that this wasn’t going to be your typical folk gig. Frankie is a North East artist, and her music is deeply rooted in the traditional folk songs and stories of the region and wider England. But rather than simply performing those songs as they have been passed down, she takes these ancient pieces of music and completely tears them apart, rebuilds them and gives them a new identity. It’s folk music, but not as we’ve necessarily come to expect it.

What made the set particularly fascinating was the way Frankie approached the stories behind the songs. These aren’t simply old melodies being given a modern electronic backing track. She was actively engaging with the history and meaning behind them, particularly some of the more problematic attitudes that appear in traditional folk.

A number of these old stories carry fairly blatant misogynistic themes, reflecting the culture in which they were originally written and passed down. Frankie doesn’t ignore that. Instead, she seems to use the songs as a starting point, giving them a more contemporary perspective, almost like she’s having a conversation with the past. The stories remain recognisable, but their meaning isn’t necessarily fixed anymore.

And sonically, that conversation between old and new is where Frankie really excels. Her fiddle playing was exceptional throughout the evening, providing the traditional backbone of the performance while everything around it became increasingly experimental. Modern electronic beats, strange synth textures and heavy rhythmic sections sat underneath melodies that could have been hundreds of years old.

A full band adds another dimension

The new band accompanying her also added an entirely different dimension to the performance. Frankie mentioned that this was one of, if not the first, times she’d played with a full band in this way, and you could immediately hear what that opened up. The drummer gave the music a much more physical pulse, while the keyboard player added some brilliant electronic textures. Together they created this wonderfully unsettling atmosphere, but in exactly the right way.

I also really appreciate when an artist leans into the theatrics. It’s an often left-out part of performing, but one Frankie nails with her outfit choice. Long pieces of flowing white fabric hung from her, creating this almost mummy aesthetic as she moved around the stage. It was eerie, theatrical and completely unlike anything else I’d seen at The Glasshouse recently.

She didn’t just stand there and play either. Frankie danced around the stage, throwing herself into the performance and making the music feel physical. The whole thing had a slightly ritualistic quality to it, as though we’d been invited into some strange folk ceremony that had somehow been transported hundreds of years into the future.

Death and the Maiden stands out

The opening of the set, Death and the Maiden, is without doubt my favourite song of hers. There’s something pirate-sea-shanty-like and demonic about the vocals, with the added extra-deep vocal effect on the parts performed by ‘Death’. I highly recommend you check this song out.

By the time the final notes rang out, it felt like we’d been taken somewhere completely different from where we’d started. A Sunday evening that began with food and drinks on the Quayside had ended with us watching ancient North East folk stories being dragged into the modern day through experimental electronics and incredible fiddle playing.

Madeleine Smyth was a lovely surprise at the beginning of the night. I’d genuinely like to see where she takes her music next. If you have an opportunity to catch either of these artists live in the future, do not hesitate!

Review by Michael Dunwell

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