Airling ProfileYou'd think, by night two of BIGSOUND, that the lesson would have been learnt.
Arrive at an act around whom significant hype has built in recent times, and suffer the fate of enjoying more sound than sight as you're relegated somewhere towards the back of the crowd. So it is at the JBL Outdoor Stage, at the Brightside, for a heartfelt set from Brissy-bred electro-chanteuse Hannah Shepherd, aka Airling.
It's a difficult vibe to gauge, however, with her (and her offsider's) lush, layered instrumentation and dynamically variable vocals - which simply shine in standout Wasted Pilots - ironically feeling like they would be better suited to a smaller - or at least more intimate - stage than this. It may be a different story down the front, in the direct fallout zone of where you would expect to be hit by anything in the air.
Still, among those craning their necks at the back, a casual sense of... not disinterest, but certainly simmering ambivalence, permeates throughout her - to be totally fair - well-honed, capably executed set. It's certainly easy to hear (and, if you're well positioned, see) the reasons that so much has been said of Airling's capabilities and potential lately, but for more than a few in attendance tonight, it seems a little difficult to truly feel it.
