By Darren Grayer.
Francesca Pidgeon is probably known best for her work as multi-instrumentalist in BC Camplight’s excellent backing band. Her own band, Dilettante, arrive at Heartbreakers in Southampton for a second visit (18/3/25), having jetted back to these shores less than 24 hours previous after playing at the SXSW Music Festival in Texas last week. A trip only made possible by fan donations and a Manchester based guitar shop kindly offering to raffle a rather nice New Islington guitar to help them out. It must be the sort of dilemma facing hundreds of young artists, many of whom won’t be so fortunate to gain an outcome like this.
Having released their debut solo album, Tantrum, in 2022, the follow up, Life Of The Party, was released in January. Both albums received much critical acclaim, drawing references to Prince and St. Vincent. Fans of Kate Bush and Fionna Apple would probably like what they hear as well.
Upon taking to the stage, Francesca says hello to the audience and explains how fragile her voice is after last week and how jet lagged her young band are feeling. So, there is a certain amount of irony in them kicking off with a song that has a main repeated lyric of “I’m not having any fun”, although to be fair Fun (or rather the lack of it) is the first track on the new album.
This is promptly followed by the last track on the album, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, which nods very strongly to aforementioned Kate Bush, and we also hear the quite beautiful violin playing of Robin Koob.
The band’s obvious tiredness kicks in during My Toothpaste Ajar, with the song halted about a minute in as it suddenly realised someone is playing in the wrong key. Apologies are made. before starting again, and once completed in the right key, the end is met with very warm appreciation from the audience. Perfection can be expected all too easily at times, so it’s nice to see a crowd willing to cut a bit of slack and try to lift an artist in a moment of need.
It clearly works as well, with Dilettante then going on to perform the rest of their set very strongly. I saw them play at The Railway Inn in Winchester last year, and came away feeling it was one of the best things I’d ever seen at that venue; the last four or five songs tonight reflected those feelings.
Single Serve is the only song to feature from first album Tantrum, followed by near pop perfection, Honey, the lead single from Life Of The Party. The song showcases Francesca’s guitar playing in short but very effective bursts. It’s worth pointing out that she is equally at home playing saxophone or keyboards and has a very clever way with using loop pedals. All of this is very evident during the set, and the vocals, both individually and harmonised with the rest of the band are still beautiful despite the problems.
Title track, the very melancholic feeling ballad, The Life of The Party, and jaunty sounding Easy Does It wrap things up, and it seems all’s well that ends well, although I can’t help thinking the band would have enjoyed and benefitted from a day or two’s break before starting on the UK tour.
Prior to Dilettante we were treated to a very pleasant support set from Alternative Country / Americana band, The Pursuit Of Pleasure, whose four piece harmonies were an absolute joy.
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