Katie Kim’s Sligo set list.

New Spaces for Music made its Autumn/Winter return on Saturday night (Oct 3rd) with performances from Katie Kim and Valerie Francis, accompanied by live visuals from Donal Dineen. Here’s what our Music Programmer Aoife Flynn felt about Saturday’s gig:

Still basking from the glow of a lovely gig in Sligo last night. There is something wonderful that happens in a room when a gig comes together, and last nights gig with Valerie Francis and Katie Kim (for The Model) came together better than I could have hoped. I’ve wanted to have Katie play in Sligo for a while, having blogged about her here a few times, having first heard her single Radio on Dineen’s Small Hours, and then subsequently seen her, and the band, live in Dublin in May. Having worn a hole in the album “Twelve” I was bowled over by the texture of the live sound, and we started to plot a Sligo gig.

I discovered Valerie Francis’ album “Slow Dynamo” around the same time and it seemed like a great fit for a Sligo double bill, which worked out a treat. Donal Dineen was kind enough to offer his considerable Visual skills for the night and it all wound together beautifully.

The crowd that came were just exactly the right sort of audience and Donal set a beautiful backdrop for the sounds, with a tapestry of still and live visuals on the ex-Pharmacy walls. Both acts played beautifully. Valerie’s voice is really powerful and bluesy live, and provides a stunning contrast for the quirky pop tunes that draw on a harmonium, bells, melodica and trumpet from her musical partner Bill. Punches and Slow Dynamo are as stunning live as they are on the album, but Like Glue was my stand out of the night.

Valerie Francis

Katie Kim were 2 musicians down but the sound felt as full as ever. She’s gathered excellent musicians around her and the overall effect is just so transportive, it’s very easy to to get lost in the sound. Katie, John Haggis, Ray and John (Spud) seem to have one of those great unspoken connections on stage and the whole set felt like it was responding to the room, and to the night. Crocodile and Radio were stand-outs once again, but it’s hard to pick any out of a terrific set. Thankfully the whole night was filmed by Myles O’Reilly (with a little help from Ian Cudmore) so I should be able to post some clips in the fullness of time. Watch this space.

Katie Kim glimpsed rehearsing through the Wolf on Arm window

For more pictures of the gig see our Model flickr page>

This post originally appeared on www.stranded.ie.