Liverpool Barfly, 24 May 2007.

Since receiving Stephanie Dosen’s brilliant new album, A LILY FOR THE SPECTRE, I’ve been desperate to see the lady perform. For me, recorded music is the beginning of the journey; the test of whether an artist should be heard and seen. Dosen is from Wisconsin and is one of the most recent signings to the UK’s best independent label, Bella Union. In truth it’s got to the point that as soon as I see one of the company’s albums slide through the letterbox it goes straight to the top of my listening pile. So what’s so special about Stephanie Dosen? The album is a blissful collection of languidly paced folk-pop songs finely laced with melody, sensitivity, sincerity and moving lyrics. Dosen’s voice is fragile, sensuous and silk-smooth – she communicates in a way that you just want to meet her; a stranger who could become a good and loyal friend.

Due to the very poor photos I have seen of her I was surprised to see the very beautiful young woman who slid so quietly and shyly onto the Barfly’s stage. In waiting also was about one half of the audience who had flocked to the venue to see local singer/songwriter hero Stephen Fretwell. Dosen has the most delicate touch in both singing and playing her huge guitar, an excellent foil for headliner Fretwell’s more aggressive style. The opening song, This Joy, confirmed my initial impression, that she is indeed a rather special musician. As her long, slim, pale fingers wandered gently over the guitar strings her beautiful voice travelled from a secretive whisper to a soaring crescendo with absolute ease. I was stunned by the singer and the song, and at times just had to move my eye from the camera’s viewfinder to more fully experience the spell that Dosen was casting so early in the set.

I sensed strongly that the audience had been caught off-guard by her quality because of the deafoning silence at the song’s end, which suddenly errupted into major applause. Dosen smiled as she realised the ice had been broken before launching into a set short on duration, long on inspiration. I have attended hundreds of concerts here in the UK and the one thing that bugs me more than anything else is people chattering over a performance. By song two all I could hear was Dosen and an audience not talking but listening intently; a golden silence. I was too busy photographing to remember the next order of songs but they were all recognisable as being from her latest album. Only Getting Better, Only In The Dark, Death & The Maiden, Like A Dream and Way Out I believe were performed and in this live ambience sounded better than on record.

Dosen chatted comfortably and humorously with the audience between songs, and really looked to be enjoying the whole experience. The final song, A Lily For Spectre was my pick of the night, and with a heartfelt ‘thank you’ she was gone. Now I know many of you have attended concerts that you really didn’t want to end, but when they finally did you hung around thinking about what you had witnessed. You finally arrived back home and immediately played the artist’s record in order that you could hear at least segments from the performance all over again. That’s precisely what I did when I got home, musical journey complete. Well, not quite, because I want to see Dosen again but headlining and singing many more songs. In that little venue in Liverpool, Dosen turned strangers into friends, many of whom will have dashed out the following day to grab her beautiful album. This was a tantalising and intimate performance from one of the finest, new young singer/songwriters around at the moment.

**page*



My focus for the night was on Stephanie Dosen for the reasons given above, but for anyone wanting a night of great singer/songwriters Stephen Fretwell’s presence rounded off the perfect gig. I’ve already witnessed several Fretwell performances, the earliest being about 4 years ago. His last album firmly anchored his position as one of the UK’s leading players, and while I’ve not heard his latest work I’m pretty sure this class act will go from strength to strength. Fretwell enjoys a strong underground following, and sure enough before he finally arrived on stage the place filled to capacity.

I noticed his set-list lying on the stage and could see that it was a collation of songs from all his album and EP releases, including several songs that must have been brand new. It was these new, alt country style songs he used to open the show but to an audience wanting to hear his older work. The opening new songs were very good, but it was when Run and What’s This You Say Little Girl (from MAGPY) arrived quite early in the piece that the crowd came alive and song the choruses (very politely). Fretwell is a very expressive performer with a voice as good as anything on the contemporary UK folk circuit. But it is the quality of his songs and guitar playing that cements his place amongst the top echelon - nationally and internationally. The set also included Water Blue, Emile, William Shatner’s Dog, Scar, New York, Bad Bad You, Bad Bad Me, and Darlin’ Don’t - a great mix of old and new. It was a faultless, storming performance in front of an audience that gave and received in equal measure.