It is four dates into their UK headline tour, and The Cadbury Sisters have landed in York. The tour will eventually see them play in places that are well off the usual well-trodden gig path – places like Elgin, Stornoway and Ullapool – each and every one of them in support of the forthcoming release of their second Extended Play recording, Sarah, and just ahead of their eagerly anticipated inaugural appearances at this year’s Glastonbury festival.
It is gently through the past, though, where the three siblings first go tonight. ‘Lolita’ – taken from Sarah’s predecessor, last year’s debut EP Close – is a seductive slice of spectral folk music. Three pure voices and one guitar, it entwines itself around you with the simplicity of its innocence. The ensuing title track from the new EP – the warmest of tributes to the sisters’ mother and a firm testament to her great inner strength – reflects the distance that the music of The Cadbury Sisters has travelled in twelve short months.
With Jess taking her position behind the drums and Mary strapping on her bass, 
forces are joined with Lucy’s electric guitar. Their music shifts gear dramatically, assuming far greater courage and much more spirited intent as it does so. And when it is relocated into the live setting, latest single ‘Drifting’ – a previous God Is In The TV Track of the Day – continues with this newly acquired confidence whilst still holding onto all of its ethereal otherworldliness.
Last year a number of emerging artists were given the opportunity to record one of their own songs as an A-side and a RAK Classic as the B-side as part of the famous studio’s Singles Club. For their part, The Cadbury Sisters coupled ‘Weight Of It’ with a cover of ‘Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)’. Jess, Lucy and Mary perform the two songs here tonight back-to-back. On the former the three voices coalesce beautifully on a song that speaks of quiet, dignified resilience. Whilst to hear female voices sing the latter is nothing less than a complete revelation, transforming Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s 1975 chart-topper into a bittersweet cocktail of happiness and despair.
On ‘Fire’, the final track from their first EP, Lucy Cadbury’s unhitches her voice from its more restrained mooring and releases an almighty roar, one that reveals all of the suppressed agony that lies at the song’s heart. And then on the concluding ‘Get This Feeling’, The Cadbury Sisters play pop. Pirouetting madly around the stage, Lucy shows that she and her sisters can be just as adept at reflecting upon the joyfulness of love as they are at exploring its heartache and hurt.
Photo credit: Simon Godley
More photos from this evening’s show can be found here
The Cadbury Sisters UK Headline Tour continues through June:
Thur 4th: Glasgow, The Glad Cafe – tickets
Fri 5th: Elgin, The Drouthy Cobbler – tickets
Sat 6th: Stornoway, Woodlands Centre – tickets
Sun 7th: Ullapool, The Arch Inn – tickets
Mon 8th: Edinburgh, Sneaky Petes – tickets
Wed 10th: London, St Pancras Old Church – tickets
Thur 11th: Witney, Fat Lil’s – tickets
Fri 12th: Birmingham, Glee Club Studio – tickets
Sun 14th: Shrewsbury, Henry Tudor House – tickets
Wed 17th: Bristol, The Lantern – tickets
Thur 18th: Halifax, The Doghouse – tickets
Fri 19th: Manchester, Sacred Trinity Church – tickets
The Sarah EP will be released on June 15th via Fear of Fiction and can be pre-ordered right here
