Call Upon The Author

Did you know that there’s a gig venue in South Wimbledon? I didn’t. Until last Friday when I ventured to the deepest, darkest depths of the Northern Line to see Sparrow and the Workshop at The Watershed. A tiny club on the corner of Merton Road and The Broadway, flanked by a seemingly endless, and surprisingly inviting selection of Lebanese, Thai and Chinese restaurants; as well as several State’s worth of Fried Chicken for the less discerning diner. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the cute little, semi submerged venue with its long sofas, small intimate booths, chintzy wallpaper and toilet cubicles lined with pages from Marvel comics. The Glaswegian based trio are here opening for Idlewild on their ‘Arse End of Nowhere Tour’ (it’s not really called that, but it could easily have been) and publicising their debut album ‘Crystal Falls’ which is released on April 12th. A reworked compilation of tracks from their previously released EP’s ‘Into The Wild’ and ‘Sleight of Hand’.
In yet another twist on what already seems to have been a slightly odd tour (the show in Bristol being staged on a boat, apparently), Sparrow and the Workshop are on stage at about 6:30pm. The verging-on-a-matinee time slot being due to a club night which is happening after the evenings gig. Despite the early start, things are still running behind schedule, meaning that the trio have to rattle through a small selection of songs, in a shortened set. They kick things off with ‘Into The Wild’, a folky little ditty with White Stripes-esque undertones. Jill O’Sullivan’s voice sounds like a hybrid of Karen O and Dolly Parton; which sit well in harmony with drummer Gregor Donaldson’s deep, thick Scottish backing vocals. Despite being crammed onto the tiny Watershed stage, Donaldson’s kit is impressive, and he makes good use of it. The fast riding-across-the-plains style drums and liberal battering of a strip of steel during one of the highlights ‘Devil’s Song’ was very enjoyable; as was heavy use of the cowbell in another stand out track ‘Horse’s Grin’; during which O’Sullivan’s vocal’s sound all the more sickly-sweet-Southern-Belle-esque as the song soars to it’s climax. They may be Glasgow based, but O’Sullivan’s Chicago upbringing is definitely the dominant twang in her eclectic accent. During the few snippets of crowd interaction, O’Sullivan shows a mix of happiness, gratitude and wonderment that the crowd are here so early for the show, and that they seem to be responding so well to the band. She pours thanks on the crowd before wrapping things up with ‘I Will Break You’; a song which apparently is usually dedicated to Sarah Palin, but tonight has a sarcastic nod towards the DJ/Bar man in the back room who seemed to be inadvertently doing his level best to spoil the show by keeping the pounding dance music going during the acts. Yeah, thanks for that.
Despite battling against time constraints and unwanted backing music, Sparrow and the Workshop put on a strong show, and definitely have an interesting delivery and material. I’ll be looking forward to see how the studio reworkings of tracks turn out. Have a listen, and I defy you not feel like you’re in ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ or something. Ye-haw!