Finding Love at she’s green & Sandhouse at The Lower Third
I was lucky enough to be on the guest-list for she’s green on the 4th of September. Having been to the venue before, I was familiar with its ambient lighting and cozy layout — an atmosphere that only set the mood for the dreamy performances by the opener and the main act.
First up was Sandhouse. Having never heard of them before this gig, I had no expectations going into their set. I had no remarks beyond the name being elusive in true indie fashion, but since watching them perform, they have earned a new fan. Their arresting stage presence caught me completely off-guard. Singer Anna Sutherland takes the stage with a familiar ease, as though it’s her living room or studio. She spins and dances along to her band’s percussion between delivering ethereal vocals, soaking up every second on sage and compelling us to do the same. Despite having a lead this charismatic, the band shines bright with insanely impressive instrumentals, especially on ‘Grown’, which has a sharp, enclosing outro that is layered with a chime-like soft jangle. I also really enjoyed the invigorated drums on ‘Undefeated’, the haunting synths of ‘Circus’, and hope to see them release ‘Clam Chowder’ (working title, as they said) which had their most memorable lyricism. My favourite from them has to be ‘Snapdragon’ which has been added to my rotation since I left the show.
After an opener that good, I couldn’t wait to see how she’s green makes the evening any better, but they definitely delivered. She’s green’s show had the kind of fanfare you would never expect in a venue as modest as The Lower Third. The room was jam-packed with fans of all ages, buzzing for she’s green to take the stage. Before the set, I even overheard a couple say they’re travelling from Canada for a UK music tour, which they kicked off with The Cure, and are ending with she’s green. If that isn’t high praise, I don’t know what is. Even though they were touring to promote their new album swallowtail, audiences cheered for deep cuts from their discography. It’s clear their fans have been there from the start and remain heavily invested in their sound and musical journey.
Speaking of their sound, one of the first songs they performed was ‘river’, which happened to also be the first single they ever released (which the audience knowingly celebrated). It’s perfectly representative of the rest of their discography, with a soothing, serene production which is the base for Zofia Smith’s floaty vocal ascensions. Her voice is tonally reminiscent of Alvvays’ Molly Rankin, with a sweetness that lends to her mellifluous vocal quality. The band, who are from Minneapolis, Minnesota, have a similar Midwestern softness that follows in their sound as well, most evident in songs like ‘mandy’ and ‘smile again’.
Before starting each song, guitarist Liam Armstrong counts the band in, which progressively became more endearing as the show went on: a moment of humble prep before the beat moodily drops into their super fluid play. Every member of the five piece holds their performance equally. Despite intense and fluctuating lighting, making some of the band hard to see, you can always hear guitarist Raines Lucas, bassist Teddy Nordvold and drummer Kevin Seebeck breathe energy into every song.
The band is in such perfect harmony with their sound that it is often difficult to differentiate one song from another. Although their discography is crisp, a lot of their arrangements seem enmeshed and tend to bleed into each other. This isn’t an issue for the true fans since the audience fervently enjoyed the set all the same. They were intimately familiar with tracks like ‘lakes’ despite not being on the setlist for a while. Zofia makes one request of us in return: asking the audience to jump during ‘Bleed’, which she thanks us for in true American fashion: “Hell yeah I’m proud of you guys”.
This also encapsulates the relationship between she’s green and their fans very well: she’s green is seen by their fans in a manner very rare for most bands their size right now. The very loyal fanbase is constantly engaged with them despite bouts of awkward crowdwork here and there. They know them regardless of what she’s green verbalises. All of the music is sincerely received by their audience for what it is even far away from their hometown, which is also something they repeatedly acknowledged and thanked the audience for. When they ended their set with ‘close your eyes’, they were booed for it being the last one of the evening. As Zofia sang the last note, everyone clapped, whistled and whooped until well after the band left the stage, calling for “one more song”, to which the band obliged. Returning to stage teary-eyed, they clarified: “we weren’t planning on it but we love London”, and asked the fans to vote on which song they’d like. Finishing the evening with ‘syndulla’, Zofia addressed the audience one last time saying we have to “go crazy for this song”, and everyone there, of course, acquiesced as the room exploded into a beautiful, united reverence for the band and their music.
Being there as someone who wasn’t familiar with the band beforehand, it felt like walking in on a family reunion where everyone clearly loves each other a lot. I felt like a spectator of their love, as she’s green even took a picture with the audience in an emotional moment. Their music has an undoubtedly relaxing quality to it, something I’d put on to unwind from a noisy day, but with the way their fans treat the band, you know they’ve really found their audience (and clearly, they’ve found them back).
Listen to she’s green on Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud and follow them on Instagram.Listen to Sandhouse on Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud and follow them on Instagram.
Edited by Eva Lau-Johnston Co-Music Editor
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