Joe Allen is a 22 year old Singer songwriter
originally from Redditch, Worcestershire in the UK.
Joe is now currently based in Oxford where he has just completed the final year of his music degree at Oxford Brookes University.
Whilst University has limited Joe playing live, he has over the last couple of years still managed to have played critically acclaimed gigs all over the UK, Dublin, Amsterdam and a memorable night headlining at the fantastic La Fleche D'or in Paris.
The band currently comprises Joe along Angharad Jenkins & Chrissie Sheaf.
Angharad has been an integral part of the line up for the last couple of years since the pair met at University....for those yet to witness them live, somehow Angharad manages to make a single violin sound like half a dozen different string instruments playing simultanously...some of the sounds she manages to create you would swear could not be made with the instrument!
Over the last few few months Joe and Angharad have been joined by the wonderful Chrissie Sheaf on drums which has added a completely new dynamic to the live sound
There's lots of exciting things happening at the moment, much of which we cant talk about yet but there will be lots more live dates being put up over the next few weeks...June & July are quiet as Angharad is in the studio with a folk band she also playes with along with Chrissie being away in Australia. Joe too wants some time out to concentrate on writing more new material.
I will over the next week or so be putting up some video footage of a couple of new songs featuring the full band along with hopefully some audio of another live set in Gloucester, critical acclaim.
If you do get the chance to see them live in the coming months....dont miss it!
Any enquiries please email: joeallenmusic@googlemail.com
some reviews....
A duo — Joe Allen, singer and Angharad Jenkins, violinist— were next to perform. A technical hitch stalled the pair’s entrance just long enough for them to break the silence with the opening bars of ‘Chase’ — a gut-wrenching tale of heartbreak so exquisite it will make your eyes widen and your heart race. Perhaps it was Joe Allen’s tortured vocals or the ferocity with which Jenkins unbelievable strings pushed and pulled until the finish that led the audience to gasp audibly at Chase’s dramatic climax. For many, it was nothing short of breathtaking'- Melanie Roberts, Evening News
review from a Valentines night By Cara Leahy
'Boy and girl take the stage, boy holding a guitar, girl with violin.
Classic Valentines Day? I don't think so.
Joe Allen and Angharad Jenkins have come to play for a group of (very excited) girls in a private venue all too perfect for his mellow, enthralling music.
The silence that settles over the room is deafening, until Allen's voice breaks the quiet.
It's captivating.
If the soul could speak its deepest desires, what Joe Allen sings would give it words. Alternately drawing his lyrics out and building to startling crescendos, Allen's lyrics convey raw emotion that carries a realness that speaks to anyone. It's as though Allen reads his audience's minds and plays not for them, but the very spirit of who they are.
And then the violin starts. Angharad Jenkins starts in with a violin solo that tears all eyes away to stare in wonder as she brings the audience to their knees. It's more than a duet, Allen and Jenkins are perfect, complimenting each other so eloquently that even without lyrics, the sound would be flawless. It's too much for some of us-leaning forward, covering our faces with our hands, some frozen like statues, all totally lost in their music. Allen shifts back and forth, straining towards something we can't quite see, lifting his head to call out verses with agonizing clarity, while the striking cries of the violin bring us to the very edge of despair, hope, rage and back again. It's an unbelievable blend of power and elegance, holding the audience in a spell so profound that words can't quite do it justice.
Tonight, they play for us, for a group of girls lucky enough to enjoy a private performance, but anyone can sense it: it won't be long before they play for many, many more.'
What the people say..........
'Tonight’s
set opener, ‘Are You Awake?’, bleeds into the epic ‘Please Don’t Just Stare At
Me’ and immediately I’m having to rein in the over-excited adjectives appearing
on my note pad. Maybe its the way Joe batters his acoustic as he sings, as if
Mike Scott and Damien Rice are both wrestling inside him, his tennis shoes
pawing at the boards trying to lift him off the ground. Maybe it’s the way
Angharad’s violin swoops and glides like seagulls round a Hibernian cliff face,
effortlessly catching the thermals of his wonderful voice. ‘Gunpoint’ ratchets
this up further as a loop-station turns it into Ed Alleyne Johnson dancing with
Thom Yorke. To paraphrase the master; this is so fucking special.
Paul Carrera
'the gig room, such as it is, would fit snugly inside your broom cupboard, meaning the lucky punters find themselves pressed face to face with singer Joe Allen and violinist Angharad Jenkins, while the remainder of a large crowd listen through the wall!..
Together the duo take the concept of voice, fiddle and acoustic guitar to unbelievable reaches of rage, tension and release.
It's difficult not to get swept out to sea in the tempest these two stars create in songs like 'At Gunpoint' and 'Do You Think That's Enough', while Angharad's bubbly banter with the audience towels us down after the rain, as Joe re-tunes his pummelled guitar between songs, and causes us to take them both to our hearts' -Nightshift magazine
Support came from singer/songwriter Joe Allen. Originating from Worcestershire,
troubadour Allen treated the crowd to a selection of Tom Mcrae-like
acoustic-based ballads, accompanied by the gorgeous violin playing of Angharad
Jenkins. His voice was incredible .The support was also the best I've seen
in a long time - check out some of Joe Allen's songs at
www.joeallen-online.co.uk.
CD times review of supporting Howling Bells
the
audience were treated to a stunning 35 minute set from a young singer songwriter
with an astounding voice.
His version of the Nina Simone classic ‘feeling good’ which bravely he walked on
to the stage and performed largely acapella had the hairs on every part of the
body standing to attention.
Having last week supported one a band who are one of NME’s new darlings and a
big tip for 2006 – The Howling Bells - he is clearly one to watch and the
remainder of the self penned set lived up to that excellent beginning.
Live at the Artrix, review
