Mt. Desolation & The Staves At Brudenell Social Club 24/09/10 by Helen Parton

As I had never been to the Brudenell Social Club in Hyde Park, Leeds I had no idea what to expect. Once inside I found that it provided an intimate atmosphere, perfect for the fans.

Me my Mum, Tim and my Mum's friend.

The Staves, a trio of young girls opened the night. They had very good harmonies and their voices all complimented each other very well, especially in the song 'Mexico' which was my personal favourite performed by them. In one particular song, the use of the Ukelele and the Guitar worked really well together. They explained they have been touring with Mt. Desolation and spent the last ten days in Scotland visiting places such as Inverness and the Isle of Mull. They finished their folk rock set with their cover of an Irish folk song called 'The Silver Dagger' which was excellent and I thought they were a really good band to set the mood of the night. To listen to some of their songs and for information about The Staves go to their website: http://www.myspace.com/thestavesmusic
Mt. Desolation are a recently formed band created by two members from popular rock band Keane, Tim Rice-Oxley; keyboardist, song writer and vocals and Jesse Quinn who provides the main vocals and guitar to this nouveau Country and Western band. The rest of the band members consist of members from The Long Winters, Mumford & Sons, The Killers, Noah & The Whale and The Staves.


What I noticed as Tim started playing the intro to the first song was that it has an essence of Keane embedded in it which I thought was a good touch. Jesse made a good front-man, the upbeat song really got the crowd going. Jessica Stavely-Taylor, one of the members of The Staves is also part of Mt. Desolation and provided a good contrast to Jesse's strong masculine voice as their harmonies worked really well together.
'Bitter Pill' was lead by Tim's powerful vocals with Jesse and Jessica as back up vocalists. This song was more rocky with a folk undertone to it and I think it really worked as a song.
The songs performed were both a mixture of blues and feel-good music. These got the crowd dancing and clapping along. The use of the fiddle in certain songs really heightened the emotion of the song, especially one that Tim explained was about regret.
"This is another soppy love song." Jesse stated and then began to play the mouth organ which I found to be very reminiscent of Bob Dylan. The room fell silent however once finished, a sea of cheers and applauses filled the room.
The gig came to an end as they finished with 'Your Kind Of Life' which was another upbeat track and I thought was a brilliant song to end an extremely enjoyable gig.
I managed to speak to Tim as they began packing their equipment, I complimented him and said how much I enjoyed the night to which he was so genuinely grateful. I asked him whether they were going to do any more tours once their album is released to which he replied this wouldn't probably happen as they are busy working on their latest Keane album which is still in the making. He even posed for a photo with my mum, her friend and myself.


The self titled album by Mt. Desolation is out on the 18th of October and is available for pre-order from their website: http://www.mtdesolation.com/