On a cold October night in a godforsaken area of Reading close to the festival site 150-200 people gather inside a small venue called the Plug ‘n’ Play. The pretty fairy lights inside starkly contrast the bleak ugliness of the surrounding factories that disgustingly smell of melting fat. The audience inside are fairly subdued, as this is after all, a folk/acoustic evening. Also, when people are granted the free cake that they are promised, they are usually fairly content and unlikely to cause trouble. The crowd are there to see a set by ex-Million Dead frontman-turned folk troubadour Frank Turner. He would go onto play a brilliant set, but before him there are three support artists – one of which was Kat Flint.
She was instantly intriguing, and not just because she is the only girl on the bill, for her demeanour was noticeably different to all the other singer/songwriters performing. While the others were self-deprecating in a confident, brash manner; she did it a quiet, shy way that seems to suggest that she was embarrassed. In regards to her charming folk-pop though, she had absolutely nothing to be worried about. True, that night she
did play a mistake-ridden set but it was still blatantly obvious to all present that she is a superb singer/songwriter. If that much is obvious when Kat Flint plays what she considers a poor set, imagine how good she would be on record, where all the nature little errors are omitted. It therefore made sense, to invest in this EP. ‘The Secret Boys Club EP’ is only her debut release and already she has shown a great sense of musical maturity and excellence.
Essentially this EP utilises the tried-and-tested formula of a solo vocalist with an acoustic guitar and it does so brilliantly. This formula is greatly helped by the fact that Kat Flint has an amazing voice. Her vocals are warm and her Scottish brogue makes them sound all the more charming. Her accent reveals her heritage and shows that she is a long way from home in London, “In a city where the drunks are dressed in suits worth twice my rent”. This line comes from the first track on the EP,
‘Fearsome Crowd’, a song that describes the hustle and bustle of city life as well as feeling like the outsider throughout life. It is slow and stately; staying at a fairly constant dynamic but builds in texture as the song progresses. This is true of many of the songs here as they all tend not to change too much dynamically, but instead change texturally. These texture changes come from the subtle addition of instruments playing around the central acoustic guitar part. Such instruments include melodicas, glockenspiels, kazoos, penny whistles and synths; also, according to the liner notes there is a ‘cardboard rrrock box’ somewhere on the EP. On
‘London Lullaby’ the vocal line is mimicked by glockenspiels and penny whistles before the melodica enters with a counterpoint melody. These alternative instrumental parts aren’t overpowering, yet their subtle flourishes add a lot to the song, making it sound richer and warmer.
The best song on the album by a mile is
‘Ohio’. With beautiful vocals and cyclic guitar melodies it details the heartbreaking story of prostitution and the loss of innocence in a distant city, yet, as with the other songs here, there is an intimacy in the recording that sounds very live, making it seem not so distant after all. It is simple, yet its execution is so perfect that it is brilliant. A close-contender for the title of best track here is the strangely upbeat
‘Anticlimax’. It is
strange that it is upbeat because its message of failure and disappointment; essentially it is pessimism coated with optimism by way of handclaps and melodica and kazoo solos.
‘The Secret Boys Club EP’ is only Kat Flint’s debut and it is a very accomplished start to her young career. It is essentially very simple, with an acoustic guitar and vocals at the heart of it, but she has been creative and clever enough with the subtle addition of other instruments to make this sound much stronger texturally. Her lyrics thought not too memorable are much better than you would expect and their delivery is excellent thanks to her beautiful voice which is the strong point of the album. Basically she could make poor, dull songs sound good, so when faced with singing songs structured and written as well as those on this EP the results are superb. This is just the start for Kat Flint and, to quote the first track here, she is “pregnant with potential” and ‘The Secret Boys Club EP’ demonstrates her potential and her ability brilliantly.
