Sarah Kinsley’s Ascension tour at Lafayette with dreamy opener Arctic Lake

Written and Captured By | Alexandra Peter-Thomas

Tuesday nights are now something that I hold dear especially at London’s indie hotspot Lafayette, to walk into a night of ascension which is exactly what the two acts delivered for their doe-eyed and engaged crowd.

London based Duo Arctic Lake opened the tour and mesmerized the crowd immediately with their serene melodies and ethereal lyrics. Emma took to the stage with Paul ready to take on the crowd. She smiled sweetly and sang in an ever so soft and dulcet tones. Donning a long brown leather coat later revealing a brown skirt and matching waistcoat, fingerless arm warmers and slouchy leather boots to complete the look. In between songs she interacted with the crowd their eyes fixated on her as if nobody else was in the room, it was a joy to see an artist bond so well with a crowd full of strangers and have the ability to make them emit such joy and happiness throughout their set. Keep your eyes on them they are an indie duo worth seeing.

See more photos of Artic Lake HERE

Whilst the crowd waited with anticipation, excited chatter echoed round the intimate venue. The lights began to dim, and screams erupted throughout for Sarah and her band mates to take the stage. She dressed like she came straight out of Woodstock in a floor-length royal purple slip dress and chunky boots she smiled wide greeting the crowd warmly she began with Karma from her album “The King” that released in the summer of 2021.

Sarah Kinsley‘s stage presence is unmatched to any artist of her genre to which I’d describe to be “sad girl bedroom pop” you would never think lyrics that resembled audible honey could echo out such gusto, it truly blew me away, Sarah Kinsley makes taking the stage look easy as she flowed into her next song “What was mine” about how the sweet ones always seem to hurt. The crowd response to this echoed beautifully and resonated all too well.

Sarah Kinsley’s voice echoed through the venue as the set continued with: “Hills of Fire”, “Lovegod” and “I’m not a Mountain” and then came “The Giver” a track that has been circulating around TikTok and had even landed on my FYP (for you page for non TikTok users), talking of intimate moments at parties that lead into something which ultimately was nothing in the first place but sweet nothings and rose colored glasses can lead us astray time and time again, this had been one of my favorites out of her set to hear live because you could almost feel the crowd have memories that they thought were buried deep beneath just resurface, a girl close to me did tear up but it almost felt like a universal healing process to ease the pain for something that could finally be let go.

See more photos of Sarah Kinsley HERE

The set then rippled into “Over + Under”, “Silver of Time” and aptly following the tour’s name “Ascension” her newest release which felt true to her in the best way possible, it focused on her talents her skills on the keys and her deeply powerful voice. You could feel her emotion in this the room fall silent while she sang into the darkened room, there were moments where it felt like time stopped and it was just her in the room, I don’t believe there could be any dry eyes in the room after that, you’d have to be Zeno or Aristotle incarnate to not feel something after hearing this.

As we drew closer to an unfortunate end, nobody in that room wanted the night to end there was an indescribable energy in the room almost the felt like a divine feminine unity in perfect sync for a moment she talked about how her music had been sad for a little while and like a healthy way to release what she felt and thanked the audience for giving her the space and platform to do so, the mood transformed and became more upbeat from then on the closing songs were preformed: “Cypress”, “Black Horse” an 80’s synth pop inspired song with light airy vocals that just makes you want to get up and dance which is exactly what everyone did followed by a cover of one of my favorite songs by A-ha “Take on me” such an upbeat and fun take on such a classic 80’s masterpiece of an album “Hunting High and Low”, then came “The King” which begins with this incredible classical piano loop, which leads into her airy vocals, punchy drums a juicy riff and then goes into this extravagant crescendo as she belts out the chorus

“I wanna be the king of your heart

Let’s fall apart and start again

You’ll see the end of me”

And finally, to close an implacable, faultless set one couldn’t have chosen a better closer “Oh No Darling!” a fast-paced rhythmic dance song with somber lyrics making us think about the actions we impose onto others with little thought of their consequences. A perfect way to end a night nobody will want to forget.

 

Photos By | Alexandra Peter-Thomas