The New Roots Sessions: Louis Brennan / Hannah Nicholson / Rob Corcoran

Event information

Doors open 7.30 pm, music from 8.00 pm sharp. Nearest tube Kings Cross, 9 minutes walk.

The New Roots Sessions; three headline artists in one evening’s show - stripped back, intimate solo triple-bills. With Rob Corcoran ('..this guy is special' Americana UK), Louis Brennan ('..a master storyteller' GQ Magazine), and Hannah Nicholson (‘…profound’ Northern Life Magazine).

The line-up will be decided on the night, the listing below and in the poster does not reflect who will play when.

London-based Dubliner LOUIS BRENNAN is a singer-songwriter in the folk tradition. His folk however aren’t the field hands and travelling minstrels of yore but the repressed middle managers and ennui-ridden urbanites of late-stage capitalism. They populate tales of bad sex, half-drunk commutes and interpersonal claustrophobia delivered in Brennan’s cracked baritone, peppered with pitch-black humour.

His 2018 debut album 'Dead Capital' garnered favourable comparisons to Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark and Leonard Cohen, and was awarded 9/10 by Americana Uk who called it 'an outstanding album- deep, dark and demanding of attention’. His sophomore album 'Love Island, released in October 2022, it has been called ‘an essential album for our times’ by Lonesome Highway..

Brennan has performed at The Ramblin Roots Revue, Red Rooster Festival, Folk In The Park, and played an official showcase at 2024’s Americanafest UK.

‘A master storyteller with a voice like rolling thunder’ – GQ Magazine

‘His ability to twist and turn a simple phrase can render the most innocent line into something utterly heartbreaking’ – Clash Magazine

WATCH LOUIS BRENNAN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj7t6BvImhY

Blending soulful melancholia with the controlled artistry of a classically trained singer, piano based singer-songwriter HANNAH NICHOLSON gives voice to the light and dark of the human condition.
Having previously performed as one half of the Manchester based psych-folk duo Bird to Beast, coupled with her extensive session work – including Maz (Snarky Puppy) and Ellie Goulding- she has gone on to create her own individual musical identity: a blend of choral, electro and folk, stitched together with a thread that runs from J.S. Bach to Judee Sill and Jane Weaver.  Hannah Nicholson is a powerfully individual voice- a lighthouse in a crowded sea of UK singer-songwriters. Don’t miss her.

WATCH HANNAH NICHOLSON: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3-h2EbyEDE

Dublin troubadour ROB CORCORAN is a much respected figure on the London roots scene, with folk legend Christy Moore including his version of Corcoran’s brilliant ‘Ringing That Bell’ as a key song in his current touring set, and on his recently released live album. Corcoran’s lyrically compelling, beautifully observed songs are drenched in Celtic soul, drawing from the same deep wells that serve Van Morrison and Mike Scott so well. Present too is a strong thread of influence from the heart-on-sleeve poetry of John Prine, Hank Williams and Leonard Cohen. He recently supported legendary Irish roots artist Mary Coughlan in the UK, and continues to hone his craft both solo and with his full band around the best folk venues of Britain and Ireland.

“This man can surely sing, and he has a great band behind him. He says some things that need to be said” Christy Moore

“I implore you to check him out, don’t let me down… this guy is special.” Americana UK 9/10

“From the moment he steps on stage, Corcoran perspires authenticity in that fluent way that a hundred record execs have tried and failed to manufacture”. Anne Frankenstein: Jazz FM (UK).

WATCH ROB CORCORAN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eeod9jdyYPY