Stella Donnelly Thrush Metal EP Launch @ the Bird
w/ Boat Show, Shit Narnia, Lewis O’Donnell
Thursday, April 6, 2017
I should start with a disclaimer by saying that I have listened to and have seen shows of Stella Donnelly for a lot longer than the public eye has had the opportunity to. From her busking beginnings to an EP launch that had The Bird packed to the rafters and a line down the street, this one’s a talent that’s been diligently working for and awaiting her discovery.
She surfaced online fairly out of the blue recently with a mouth full of noodles and the announcement of her single release Mechanical Bull. It’s a brooding simple chord progression that plays over and over like a drone that you can’t forget. Justifiably the lyrics paint feelings of harassment and subjection with the chorus acting as a reprieve by breaking free. This and the bunch of other tricks in her bag were enough to convince a hoard of people to come down to the EP Launch.
With the support of friends by the likes of Shit Narnia (whose lead singer had his shirt off by 8:30pm) Lewis O’Donnell and Boat Show, the night was off to a flaming start.
Surrounded by hot honey lemon, pints of boiling water and cups of tea a croaky voiced, darling looking Stella Donnelly took to the stage and started on a tune with the lyrics “I tried”. Very fittingly, she was doing more than trying. Moving from the delicacy of her set list, she brought out a real pub brawler by the name of Sportzbet. With laughs and shouts of encouragement to the inadequate female representation in the online gambling world she continued on with another crack up called Should Have Stayed At Home. The song is a box of terrible Tinder recollections where she’s been shown pictures of his cousin’s motorbike and called a hipster for having a fringe. It never fails to get a good laugh.
She tuned into her more emotional facet with a sweet ¾ ballad titled Boys Will Be Boys signalled by a resigned sigh. By first impression it’s a lullaby, warm and welcoming until you listen to what she’s saying; then a whole other sinister light is shed. “Why was she all alone, wearing her shirt that low”. The skewed perspective of fault in sexual assault is very heavily commented on and the conviction in her singing makes it all that much more real.
Before we all slide into a slumber of dejection she made a light comment on her tonsillitis with “I sound like I’ve got my period in my throat,” before apologising with, “Sorry, that’s fucking gross”. Those that spent the week thrashing (thrushing?) Mechanical Bull on Spotify were able to scream along “I need to be alone,” before she ended with You’re So Mean To Me and the little wandering ‘trumpet solo’ got a big round of applause. She closed the show with “Alright, that’s it, that’s all I’ve got now get out of here”. She’s funny, she’s sweet, she’s got a potty mouth but she’s a star and there’s only a short amount of time before the rest of the world discovers that. Big things coming from miss Stella Donnelly. I tell ya.
MIA CAMPBELL-FOULKES
