York-based Alice Rowan, aka Mayshe-Mayshe, performed at FortyFive Vinyl Café last night in celebration of the launch of her second album Indigo. Support came from Epilogues.

Review and Photos by Graeme Smith

FortyFive Vinyl Café has been a proponent of the York culture scene for some years now but, incredibly, this was my first visit there to watch some live music. On last night’s evidence, it likely won’t be my last. Record store and coffee shop by day, the cosy space at the foot of Micklegate is transformed into a performance space at night, and there’s something wonderfully surreal about watching serene acoustic and lo-fi sets against a backdrop of a busy street with city buses and drunken revellers catching the eye.

The early mood was set by Epilogues, real name Mikey Donnelly, who with acoustic guitar in hand mixed glib banter with emotive, poetic ballads that drove deep emotionally while also transporting the listener to another place and another time. There was a sense of the nomadic running through his set, with mentions of running away, Paris and even as far afield as Vancouver, the name of his new track.

It was a night of overdue firsts for me, as Mayshe-Mayshe herself is a stalwart of the York and Leeds scene who I’m only just discovering now. I reviewed her album yesterday but before then she’d been an unknown to me. Doubly-bizarre is that her sound is exactly my cup of tea – Grimes-esque sad pop.

To recreate her sound live, Alice deployed liberal use of loop pedals, building layers of echoing vocals, keys and simple percussion into something ethereal. Though her genre is well-defined, she’s able to bring plenty of innovation to her performance. All night I was wondering why a travel hairdryer was hanging from her keyboard until she deployed it to great effect during Eczema, a highlight of her new album.

Contrasting my personal firsts, the room was filled with an audience that seemed very familiar with her music, and with Alice herself. On stage she admitted to performance anxiety, so wanted to launch her album in a cosy and friendly place. To that regard, FortyFive vinyl certainly delivered. She’s following the launch with a string of tour dates, all a venues that promise to be equally intimate. If you weren’t lucky enough to catch her in York last night, be sure to head to one of her other shows. You’ll be in for a treat!

Epilogues and Mayshe-Mayshe played at FortyFive Vinyl Café, York on Friday 11 November 2022. Indigo is out now and available here.