Vocal Girls Launches with a Big Glittery Bang

***Photos by Emily Marcovecchio**… scroll down for more images.***

I now feel particularly pathetic when I complain of being stifled last year since learning that Vocal Girls launched midway through the pandemic with a contrail of success. They’ve conquered podcasts, features, radio shows, personally curated playlists and now they’re embarking on live music events.

Vocal Girls was created by Megan Graye last year who ran the site on her own until February this year, when her team expanded to a group of 25. The aim of VG was to counterbalance male domination in the music industry and champion women and LGBTQ+ artists. They’re dedicated, durable, daring and put on a dazzling show.

***Megan (centre) with some of the team***

And I am dazzled when I walk into Hackney’s Moth Club one unseasonably warm October evening and see the entire stage draped in a gold tinsel curtain. It shouts, ‘Vocal Girls is launching and here we fucking are!’

Zola Courtney is up first, a Cornish musician spewing soulful sounds akin to Jorja Smith. The set is mellow and poignant, it would be mournful if not for the R&B influences throbbing under the surface. The audience sways (maybe a little too fast) to the music, excited to be at such a special launch.

I caught up with VG founder Megan, in between acts and managed to collect a few words. Megan sees the launch gig “like the peak of everything we've achieved so far. Having the opportunity to have everyone in the same room together with one common goal is really special - and powerful! The community that has formed around us makes us sure that positive change for the music industry is possible." It really does feel like a community, as we all cram into the windowless, adrenaline drenched walls, waiting to be drowned in music.

The speakers pump out indie music that everyone thinks no one else knows, from Kate Bush B sides to Flight Facilities remixes of Flight Facilities remixes. The anticipation of the headliner is lapping at the doors, then a deafening sea of whoops and hollers erupts as Olivia Dean strides on stage wearing all white and a bucket hat.

She practically shines on stage, her long arms inviting the audience closer. She performs her hit single, ‘Slowly’, throughout which she holds the energy of the room so masterfully, you could hear an earring drop. Someone fumbles at the bar and a dedicated fan whips around, scowls, and turns back.

You’ve got to be a certain type of performer to throw down a version of ‘Senorita’ and not only respect the JT, but have the confidence to fuse it with your own style. Although it’s an intimate performance, her voice could fill a stadium; confident, stylish, taking the time to be with her audience, like a glorious coalescing of Joy Crookes and Arlo Parks; sensitive and unapologetic.

And thank goodness she covers ‘Dy-Na-Mi-Tee’. Her command of the stage really lends itself to keeping the hip hopping as she really works with the music that’s played from her band on keyboard, guitar and drums. The set is wrapped up and tied in a bow with ‘OK Love You Bye’, sung effortlessly. It’s a real totem of self-love and trust, earning the audience’s admiration and empathy. Her easy smile and free swinging plaits somehow mirror the confidence of the song. What an act to launch a front-footed, gutsy, industry changing platform.

We end the night dancing to the jammy sounds of DJ Matt Smyth with a 70s & 80s set, remembering how much I’ve missed sweating in time to music. The whole event feels inclusive, like I was invited to a neighbour’s 10th birthday party, that I didn’t know too well before, but now we’re best friends. This is one group of electric creatives that should be protected at all costs.