LION BABE
Live In London
4th February 2015
I first became aware of LION BABE just over two years ago in late 2012 when they dropped a mysterious viral video for their track 'Treat Me Like Fire'. The visual showed a sultry female vocalist who very much lived up to the band name who danced proudly around caves and forrests, displaying her mane of hair and sung, backed by an electronic, neo-soul sound, with a vocal style comparable to that of contemporaries in the genre like Erykah Badu or Jill Scott.
Fast forward to 2015 and now I, and fortunately it seems a lot of others, know more about the duo thanks mainly to the release of their first self titled EP late last year.
LION BABE consists of producer/instrumentalist Lucas Goodman (aka @Astro_Raw) and Jillian Hervey (aka @Jillonce), the aforementioned singer and front woman of the group (who just happens to be the daughter of US singer/actress/model Vanessa Williams - a fact even I wasn't aware of unless fairly recently).
Their love for the UK is apparent as they have been recently working on new music in London with a variety of rising stars on the British scene including Joel Compass, Shift Key as well as a rumoured collaboration with uptown funker Mark Ronson.
So it was about time that they came to show us what they are truly all about and bring their live performance to the UK for the first time.
An audience made up of a select few who were lucky enough to get tickets to this auspicious event as well a few names from the music world (including The Saturday's Vanessa White & Girls Aloud's Nicola Roberts) crammed into the relatively tiny Studio Spaces in Shoreditch in anticipation of what was to come.
As lights dimmed, a neon sign displaying the band's logo lit up. It was time for Lion Babe. The band hit the stage with Lucas kicking off the instrumental opener. This was the opportunity for Jillian to make her entrance which she did by displaying another of her talents, dance. Although it was a fairly small stage she instantly captivated the audience with her contemporary moves before moving on to the first song of the night, 'Don't Break My Heart'.
Although only a short set, the band performed the EP in it's entirety as well as a brand new, previously unheard song 'Wonder Woman' plus a mash-up of their own track (which I think is titled) 'Can You Be The One' mixed with their take on the Wayne Wonder tune 'No Letting Go'
The highlights of the set for me were previous single, the Nina Simone sampling 'Jump Hi' and the song that started it all 'Treat Me Like Fire' which brought us full circle with it's imminent remixed re-release it was the perfect way to close the show as the band played on Jillian made her way out through the centre of the crowd.
My only slight criticism was with the sound which at times was not as clear as it might have been but overall the show was the perfect introduction to the group and did exactly as intended, leaving you wanting more.
You can watch the whole playlist here
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