Camden Club, London
Saturday, 11th April 2026
A blustery and sunny day, with a hard sleet shower slotted in along the way, this had been a typical April day in England, and now I’m heading for another gig at the spiritual home of London Prog Gigs, the Camden Club on Chalk Farm Road, a stone’s throw from the Roundhouse.
CATRIN VINCENT
A blustery and sunny day, with a hard sleet shower slotted in along the way, this had been a typical April day in England, and now I’m heading for another gig at the spiritual home of London Prog Gigs, the Camden Club on Chalk Farm Road, a stone’s throw from the Roundhouse.
First up was duo Catrin and Vincenzo, which edits conveniently to “Catrin Vincent”, but her name is actually Catrin Vincent! She was in prog rock band Another Sky, and one of the songs is a sad affair about Catrin knowing they were about to call it a day.
Catrin’s voice pulls off the difficult combination of delicate and powerful all at once. My friend was reminded of John Martyn, and he’s spot on. There’s elements of pre-dance Tracey Thorn in there too, but Catrin’s voice is its own thing.
Instrumentally the combination of two electric guitars, Vincenzo’s Fender Jaguar and Catrin’s Eastman cutaway works too, producing enough light and shade to underline the charming songs but never dominating Catrin’s voice. It’s all quite lovely.
Just Birds
As Long As
Autumn-ning
Angel
I Never Had Control (an Another Sky song)
Free
HELD BY TREES
Prior to this gig I had not heard of, nor heard anything by this band. Heck, I didn’t even know they were inspired by one of the best bands to come out of the post-punk era, the mighty and never over-estimated Talk Talk!
From the first bars of opening song In The Trees, it was obvious I was going to fall right down this rabbit hole, o yes! Building a contemplative atmosphere, the tune builds to a subtle climax.
This stuff is all about texture, and layers of instrumentation. Lead guitarist Robbie MacIntosh, a man with a very long and impressive CV, picks up a gorgeous sky-blue guitar, a Duesenberg apparently – nope, me neither, one for the guitar nerds, that! – and lets rip a fabulous razor’s edge guitar solo during expansive second number Rain After Sun. Fabulous stuff!
While we’re on unusual instruments, James Grant on bass alternates between a conventional four string bass guitar and a beautiful electric double bass. While that captures your eye, Andy Panayi the sax and flute player is getting well funky stage left as we look. And now, Robbie has picked up another prime example of six string craftsmanship called an Aria. It’s an enticing shade of orange. 🙂
How many bands do songs eulogising pylons? Hmmm… The Pylon Line is followed by the thoroughly buoyant and uplifting Pure Sunlight/The Golden Hour. The last band this “up” I saw live was Solstice, and Held By Trees do it without vocals!* I came into this with a blank page, and now I’m sold! The noisier, heavier stuff has elements of Floyd as well as Talk Talk (of course!), and this one compliments it perfectly. John Martyn (him again!) gets a nod in Nightfall. It’s all coming together now. The collective joy of the band jumps off the stage as main man David Joseph and James whoop and holler along to drummer Ruben Harsant’s propulsive fills.
The Path is exactly that. Meandering into the distance on a simple riff, with added swing supplied by Ruben, this is the loosest the band get as they all, especially Robbie and Andy stretch out in a jazz fusion stylee. Mmmm, nice!
*I was wrong, vocals come in on late night ballad Lay Your Troubles Down, and thereafter, and are provided by rhythm guitarist and frontman David. Well I never!
The nominal encore was another case of a band not leaving the stage and carrying on, as well, there’s nowhere for them to go! I better mention this too; Dave’s wife Jess was in charge of merch and was wearing a t-shirt displaying a quote from our Leo Trimming’s review of the band’s last album Hinterland – “It’s lovely being held by trees”. Spot on prose from our man in Devon!
The Tree Of Life goes back to the heavier semi-improvised instrumental vibe of earlier, which to be honest, floats my kayak more. Robbie lets it go on the sky-blue guitar again, in fine style. The set ends with The New Earth, a song of much needed optimism for the future.
If like me, this is a new band to you, then I recommend them highly for an evening’s chilled entertainment full of positive vibes. If you are already familiar, then you need no encouragement from me to go and see them!
SETLIST
In The Trees
Rain After Sun
Hinterland Soul
The Pylon Line
Pure Sunlight/The Golden Hour
Grow Dark
Nightfall
The Path
Lay Your Troubles Down
Oh, My Love/You Deserve
~ Encore:
Belong
The Tree Of Life
The New Earth
MUSICIANS
David Joseph – Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Robbie MacIntosh – Lead Guitar
James Grant – Bass
Andy Panayi – Saxophones, Flute
Steve Smith – Piano
Ruben Harsant – Drums
LINKS
Held By Trees – Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram
