Posted by On the day of the release of their latest album, ‘Good Woman’, Jess, Millie and Emily Staveley-Taylor walked on to London’s Lafayette with a virtual audience sat at home in their living rooms waiting to hear The Staves. It’s not quite live music as we know and love, and this performance would only make us miss it more. It was utterly beautiful and powerful.
The deep tones of the bass riff to the new album’s title track travelled from London into the homes of The Staves’ doting fans, as their angelic voices arrived in unison. You expect excellent and classy harmonies when watching this band and they didn’t disappoint. The three sisters treated us to two more tracks from ‘Good Woman’, with ‘Failure’ and ‘Satisfied’. They immediately showed off their impactful sound, as there were already moments of mighty churchlike power in their performance.
After a reminder of their second album with ‘Make It Holy’, the Watford-trio wandered off into a room backstage. They joked in quintessential Staves fashion about enjoying the tour. “Gruelling, isn’t it?”
Jess sat at a piano and played one of the highlights of the new album, ‘Waiting On Me To Change’, whilst Millie and Emily harmonised to the stirring ballad. They were joined by a cornetist and a violinist, as they played a couple more acoustic tracks before returning to the stage.
The Staves came braced the spotlight with some more songs from the album, as well as ‘Tired As Fuck’, which they described to Clash as “a pretty rockin’ song” in an interview, which certainly fits with the atmosphere they’ve created with ‘Good Woman’. Their warm and likeable nature was on full display as they giddily jumped up and down chanting “music is fun”, which they explained in their Q&A following the show was a piece of advice that reminded them why they were musicians. Because music is fun.
They rounded the set off with ‘Eagle Song’. The last track from their debut album ‘Dead & Born & Grown’. It was they were reminding their fans of who they are. Perhaps they were also reminding themselves of where they come from. It had their folk roots infused in it and it was a perfect way to end their set. They sat down afterwards with a drink and answered questions about everything from useless talents to how they wrote the album. The Staves are a breath of fresh air and should be on everyone’s list to see when they can tour properly.
Words: Adam Laver
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