Rowan Bruce
Longtime friend and co-conspirator of the band Tash George is a common sight at Hamartia’s collective trauma-dumping sessions, cheering the band on from the sidelines. An experienced wedding singer, Tash George is much more likely to be seen performing covers but tonight gives her the opportunity to make her statement as an original solo performer.
Introduced by Hamartia front person Sophie Smith as “one of my BFFs with the voice of an angel”, Tash lives up to the high praise with a confident vocal performance and a soft, self-deprecating sense of humour. Joined by her brother-in-law and Blank Atlas guitarist Dan Thould for her final song, a break-up anthem inspired by the TV comedy Fleabag, Tash George supplied a beautiful beginning to an intimate evening.
Both accomplished vocalists and songwriters in their own rights, Karl Ficarotta and Molly Dibley combine to form a sonically diverse and bittersweet duo. The pair’s opening track together ‘For You’ blends Molly’s tender, soaring lead vocals with Karl’s modern folk inspired acoustic guitar and deep, soft voice for an intimate yet catchy and immersive hit.
With Molly having decorated the basement with comfortable pillows and a forest green backdrop, the stage was already set for their acoustic power ballads. With Molly and Karl trading lead vocals back and forth alongside Karl’s pop-rock acoustic strumming, the pair demonstrate their abilities as an essential double act before ending on a sing-along cover of My Chemical Romance’s ‘I’m Not Okay’, winning over all the millennial emos in the crowd.
While Pollyanna Holland-Wing’s band Fes may have called it quits two years ago after a storied career which included support slots with math rock icons Standards, emo heavy-hitters Lakes and appearances at ArcTanGent festival, her solo work as Pollyanna has led her to equally exciting places with just as much math-pop energy. Drawing mainly from her 2023 debut EP Ouch!, Pollyanna leads the room with a quiet confidence, retaining the technical expertise from her previous work but with a more gentle feel.
While the other acts of the night focus more on straightforward folk strumming and acoustic rock groves, Pollyanna scuttles across her guitar’s neck like a spider, balancing personal songwriting with impressive math rock shredding. Closing out on her EP track ‘The Beach’, Pollyanna proves that intricate guitar work can layer elegantly with emotional songwriting.
Bristol’s very own alternative heroes Hamartia are no strangers to laying it all bare, regularly describing their shows as a form of group therapy or trauma-dumping sessions, here in the basement of Exchange they can’t hide behind amplified guitars or thunderous percussion, instead relying solely on the power of their words. Armed with some ancient deep cuts as well as a handful of new tracks, Hamartia set out to prove that their catchy alt-rock bangers work just as well with all the intensity and distortion stripped away.
With frontwoman Sophie Smith flanked by dual acoustic guitarists Matt Shiels and James Farmer, the trio waste no time in smashing out a softened version of their latest single ‘Synthetica’, here transformed from a riff heavy banger to a ferocious power-ballad.
Before their set Hamartia invited the audience to write things they’re thankful for on heart shaped cards to join in with the trauma dumping which they share before launching into a cover of ‘About You Now’ by The Sugababes. Closing out on the debut of a new track from their upcoming EP followed by a raw and impromptu version of their single ‘Yellow’, Hamartia curated a wholesome night of honesty, authenticity and gentle beauty.
