British singer/songwriter – Gabrielle Aplin, released her 4th album to date last week (9th of January) under the title of ‘Phosphorescent’. Written predominantly throughout lockdown, where we all lived in more of an online reality. Aplin has stated just how much this album means to her and since she’s currently in the running to be the highest new entry on the official charts, you could say that the response has been better than expected. One of (the many) reasons as to why I find Aplin’s music so endearing is how she successfully manages to keep the genres she plays fresh in rotation; revealing an electro-pop spin on ‘Phosphorescent’ as well as some softer acoustic numbers and so finely showing off her heavenly vocals throughout.
A rainy Tuesday evening saw a very tired yet incredibly gracious Aplin take to the stage at Nottingham’s very own Rough Trade and with a sold out capacity of 150 people, there radiated a cosy and intimate atmosphere within the venue from the get go. The entire room was silently on tenterhooks from the moment Aplin came out on stage and that same vibe lasted throughout her 30 minute acoustic set, prompting Aplin to comment on how her fans are so polite and lovely. She also mentioned how she was starting to lose her voice – it was ok though as she had her neat whiskey to hand, which must be tried and trusted as her singing shone as nothing short of exquisite.
The performance kicked off with the opening track to her album witnessing Aplin sitting at her keyboard and beautifully playing an acoustic version of ‘Skylight’. The next song to be played was ‘Good Enough’, again viewing Aplin taking to keys and allowing the audience to blissfully hang on her every word. She explained how the track was written in regards to her dog; something that, as a dog lover, I find particularly appealing. The rest of the night had Aplin switch between her guitar and keyboard whilst she acoustically performed most of the tracks off ‘Phosphorescent’, including: ‘Don’t Say’, ‘Take it Easy’, ‘Mariana Trench’ and finishing the show with one of my personal favourites, ‘Call Me’. The audience were captivated from start to finish and I even noted tears in a few people’s eyes; it was a stunningly wholesome event to be involved in.
It’s clear to see Aplin has put in a lot of effort into making ‘Phosphorescent’ a success, from the mass amounts of signed merchandise, to regular vocal performances whilst on tour, as well as recent meet and greets with hundreds of fans and we couldn’t be happier to see it bring her great love and support!