LIVE REVIEW: DAISY CHUTE - SJ MORTIMER - SAVANNAH GARDNER, RUN REMEDY - THE SOUND LOUNGE

There's always a warm welcome to be had at The Sound Lounge, and it is no different tonight on #TEAMw21's first visit of 2026. As ever the Sound Lounge team are to be found testing the waters with new ideas, so while other greed merchants play with dynamic ticketing pricing to push prices up, entrance to tonight's proceedings are on a "Pay what you can afford" basis. The result was a packed Sound Lounge, on a dark, dank Friday night for a fine evening of female songwriting. Hopefully the presence of tip jars on the tables was more an icing on the cake than an attempt to break even, the audience were certainly a pin drop silent, respectful one, which suggested that they were fully invested, no matter what they had paid.

One of the joys of the Sound Lounge is that their "Doors At 19:00" is a somewhat loose policy, so rather than being stood out in the rain, many of us were fed and watered before the show started in earnest. It did in fact afford an opportunity to see the "Sound Check", these can be quite tedious affairs, from which the public are thankfully spared, however tonight's would see a sort of creative alchemy with each artist working out if the could assist the other either with some additional backing vocals or instrumentation. SJ Mortimer has barely taken her coat off after arriving, yet within five minutes she was on stage and the plans finalised for fiddle and piano, as well as additional harmonies worked out for "Kill The Silence" - it was a wonder to behold, and either this musician game is a lot easier than it looks or we were in the presence of skilled craftswomen - we'd like to think it was the latter!

Another thing to note was the carefully curated soundtrack playing out over the PA prior to kick off. Kept at a volume not to loud to be intrusive but loud enough to draw appreciative nods from people, as Lucinda Williams and Glenn Campbell would rub shoulders with Billy Bragg and Teddy Thompson, it would be a perfect blend of UK and USA musicians much like the artists on stage tonight introduced by Paul Sexton as "Roots Supergroup".

In a break with tradition this songwriters round would go one way up the line for the first half of the evening before reversing the direction for the second, which made for a change. Round 1 would start with Run Remedy the alter ego of Robin Koob, who would effortlessly switch between violin and guitar throughout the evening. Immediately catching the eye by having a kitchen sponge taped to her guitar ( it changes the sound!) Robin would open with "Say It First". Initially a neat blend of subtle guitar playing and delicate vocals that gradually ramped up the volume on both. This was a night of a lot of new material and Robin covered the fact that she had temporarily mislaid the lyrics in her mind by humming. Just as it looked like the song was going to fade and finish early, the words magically popped back.

By any standards it had been an unusual week for SJ Mortimer, with the previous weekend being spent making her full band, US debut with Morganway, in a string of shows in New Orleans, with the bad weather making the return trip to the UK circuitous. She was then to be found launching a new venue in London on Wednesday before making her way for tonight's extravaganza, still a bit jet lagged.

Her opening song "Don't Sweat It", we'd seen worked up as a band version in Cambridge, which if memory serves well had more of a country leaning than much of the regular Morganway material. Tonight would be a stripped back version of this song of being "overwhelmed and anxious". With Robin adding plucked and then more traditional fiddle, and Daisy on shaker, there was a joy to watching SJ pick out the melody lines.

After spending nearly six months constantly reporting on the adventures of Savannah Gardner, it has been a year since we last caught up with her. We have followed a curious parallel path outside of the music world and tonight Savannah, with her Dad watching on would open her contributions for the evening with her fathers favourite of her material "Heaven Is A Feeling". Not an easy ask when one of the lines is "Mama's warm embrace" for which she would lift her eyes heavenwards on the first occurrence and leave them closed on the latter mentions.

The additional stage members would create a heavenly backing choir on stage, while the audience would play their part singing along off stage. It's a song that finds joy in the simpler things of life that are true riches. A stunning version instantly reminded #TEAMw21 that we had been apart for too long!

Daisy Chute is riding high on the success of her recent theatrical presentation "Coven" of which we have heard nothing but good things. Her opening tune was a new one, so new it did not have a title yet which always seems an odd thing to say although it would become clear once Daisy started singing as to why that might be. A combination of guitar and atmospheric fiddle, this was gripping stuff, that would ramp up in intensity and see Daisy's guitar playing became quite strident and forceful. Finishing vocally on a high this brought an exceptionally strong opening round to a close. It did seem to be full of multiple hooks but none that repeated to make the choice of title obvious - "Rules Of The Game" came a shout from the audience - only time will tell.

Robin's second song "I Wanna Play Ball" would highlight the inequality of the sexes via the world of baseball, where the girls once aged 11 get split from the boys. It's a metaphor for anything that you are told that you cannot do. Lyrically engaging from the start, the audience intently followed each line. Daisy would add additional guitar and foot tambourine, with a chorus that would plead the title at volume, it was a great way open Round 2, the audience fully joining in on the closing chant. SJ would bring the soundcheck version of "Kill The Silence" to life, revealing it to to be an eco conscience cry. With Daisy picking out occasional notes on piano, Robin creating the mood and SJ not having to compete with the band, this one off version saw SJ's stretch her vocals to really work the harmony in a most marvellous way.

Savannah would once more remind us why she became the most engaging act on the London scene. With a back ground of lost loves, suicidal cowboys being carried off in a ghostly manner - this was classic Savannah. With a rich narrative, and unfamiliar words and locations being explained in Savannah's introduction, "Cowboys Of Carrizo" will undoubtedly deservedly enter the pantheon of ghostly Americana songs on its release. Daisy would close out the first half, with a song from her aforementioned stage musical "Coven" - "Burn Our Bodies". Played standing, this had an intensity about it that immediately made you want to see the play - it would see Daisy fire out vocals at full volume and turn the unlikely phrase "You burn our bodies but we'll burn down your society" into a catch crowd singalong! Finishing by hitting her guitar rather than playing it, the half time break would give us 15 minutes to recover!

The second half duly recommenced where we left off, with Daisy Chute standing, she offered out to the audience to suggest the next song and we ended with "Throne" the title track of her next album.

Starting as a folk song with a celtic feel augmented with Robin's fiddle, it became truly stirring "He had no claim to her throne" ending with Daisy a capella. Savannah would play her new single "This Pain Is Love" which she described as being "sad but hopeful". Written in 30 minutes, as a lot of the best songs are, this stripped back version immediately revealed itself to have the most delightful of melodies. With Daisy picking out just the right notes to accentuate things and Robin adding the fiddle, the hopeful message of "See you on the other side" was incredibly poignant. SJ would choose the third round to step away from the Morganway to give a personal love song ten years in the making. By sticking with the golden rules of simplicity, the merest of guitar backing was set off perfectly by the honesty of the heartfelt lyrics. This was SJ a million miles from the powerhouse fronting the UK's best live band, delivering the softest of vocals on "(I Know You Love Me) As I Am".

She would still find room to move up and down the scales - and the line "I know you like to be on time" will chime with many couples! This was SJ at her siren like best luring us in with the most beautiful of performances. Robin would close the round with "Loser Songs" which would require the audience to provide whistling support. Another seemingly simple song, complete with the audience playing their part, this would be another hugely enjoyable romp.

Moving to the piano for her final contribution, Daisy would reveal her opening album was a jazz album and she would throw in "Midnight Love". Self deprecating about her piano skills, which sounded fine to us, this had a timeless feel to it and Daisy's breathy vocal could easily have graced any jazz venue from the last eighty years and not seemed out of place. Savannah would deliver a piece of old time country explaining her rules on "Lying Stealing and Cheating" in a relationship. Given a certain Savannah lyrical spin and a hilarious part where she would throw out a word before rocking back on her stool and letting the audience provide backing vocals, repeating the word back to her. SJ would pretty much shred what was left on her voice with a rousing version of the new "Morganway single "Machine"

Robin would close the round with "Kerosene", another emotional roller coaster that had us gripped from the heartbreaking introduction. With Daisy once more assisting on piano, and the shifting back to guitar this was music at its finest. Closing with a "Burns like kerosene" chant - the round was closed in style.

How could four rounds of top grade material be closed off? - Naturally with a Gillian Welsh cover of "Everything's Free". With Savannah having the lyrics in front of her on an ipad, and SJ reading them off her phone this was pretty much where we came in with alchemy once more being performed before our very eyes.

All pictures courtesy of Michael Chowne