/>
musicOMH
home | features | albums | tracks | live | classical | blog
Facebook Twitter
search:

George Pringle

@ Social, London, 21 November 2007
4 stars
Apparently, George Pringle is the new Kate Nash. So in six months time, if everything goes to plan, we should be hailing Ms. Someone-or-other as the new George Pringle. And, if history repeats, between now and June this fine arts student has fame, fortune and the prospect of bumping hips with a Crib to look forward to.

Some of which may appeal and some of which may not. But aside from the surface similarities - the accent, the Mac-assisted DIY musical upbringing, the bare-naked, diary-page honesty which resonates throughout - they really have very little in common.

You see, while Nash is a singer, Pringle is a diseuse - or to those who aren't Stephen Fry, a female professional performer of monologues. Nash is twee, while Pringle is dark and downbeat. Kind of like a Godspeed You Black Emperor in ballet pumps.

Seriously, you try and find someone else who can make the fact that they can't win at Street Fighter II so world-shatteringly apocalyptic, and then go and see if you think the fact that Kate Nash has a family and drinks cups of tea still has a major bearing on your life.

Which may well be the most major distinction. While both may offer you the chance to have unfettered access to the inner confines of their souls, only Pringle makes you actually want to root around and find out more about what's going on inside that head.

Understandably, as she creeps on stage for what can only have been the half-dozenth time, she looks slightly weary, slightly caught in the headlights. "Hi, I'm George Pringle. Like the crisp." she adds, self-deprecatingly. But for each passage recounted in cut-glass tones over electronic glitches and squelches, she grows in confidence.

Untill the point where she's cocky enough to start shining a torch into the eyes of the crowd. As a metaphor, we get it. Pringle is a breath of fresh air. A beacon of originality in a sea of mundanity, despite the fact that ultimately, she's just a girl doing karaoke over an iPod.

She ends with LCD I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, with her foot up on the monitors like some kind of rock star. Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't. Maybe she's the new Kate Nash. Although, in all likelihood, she isn't. Or maybe she's a 22 year old reciting poetry over GarageBand constructs, who could just be one of the most original and exciting performers we've seen all year.


Comments


now in music
Field Music
INTERVIEW
Field Music

David Brewis on the band's latest album Plumb and side projects.
Errors
Q&A
Errors

Steev Livingstone on unexpected tweets and Mogwai connections.
more live music reviews
    1. The Black Keys @ Alexandra Palace, London
    2. Friends @ XOYO, London
    3. Astronautalis @ Clandestino, Faenza, Italy
    4. Tim Hecker @ St Giles-in-the-Fields, London
    5. Roots Manuva @ Roundhouse, London
    6. Nicolas Jaar @ Roundhouse, London
    7. We Are Augustines @ Borderline, London
    8. King Creosote & Jon Hopkins @ Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
    9. Wild Flag @ Electric Ballroom, London
    10. Laura Veirs @ Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
    11. Orchestra Baobab @ Barbican, London
    12. Michael Chapman, Dean McPhee & Daniel Land @ Lexington, London
    13. Babybird @ Academy, Oxford
    14. Explosions In The Sky @ Brixton Academy, London
    15. The Dø @ Bush Hall, London
    16. Childish Gambino @ CAMP, London
    17. Bonnie Prince Billy @ Hackney Empire, London
    18. Damien Jurado @ Enterprise, London
    19. M83 @ Concorde 2, Brighton
    20. DJ Food @ Peter Harrison Planetarium, London
    21. A Winged Victory For The Sullen @ Cecil Sharp House, London
    22. Lanterns On The Lake @ Cargo, London
    23. Slow Club @ Union Chapel, London
    24. Black Lips @ Heaven, London
    25. Levellers @ Brixton Academy, London
    26. Caro Emerald @ Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
    27. Death In Vegas @ Concorde 2, Brighton
    28. Kate Jackson @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London
    29. I Break Horses @ Cargo, London
    30. Standard Fare @ Shakespeare's, Sheffield
    31. M83 @ Heaven, London
related articles
INTERVIEW: George Pringle (Part 1)
INTERVIEW: George Pringle (Part 2)
ALBUM: George Pringle - Salon des Refusés
GIG: George Pringle @ Social, London
TRACK: George Pringle - Poor Poor EP Without A Name
external
George Pringle



  more live reviews...