Live Report: Guinness Storehouse and Other Voices celebrate 25th anniversaries with Home-themed gig

Other Voices returned to the Guinness Storehouse on Tuesday evening for the sixth edition of Other Voices: Home.

The event carried extra weight this time around, as both Other Voices and the Storehouse are celebrating their 25th anniversaries this year. The programme was an elegant blend of music and spoken word, centred around the theme of Home.

Hosted in the Arrol Suite at St James’s Gate, the venue was dressed in Other Voices’ signature colour palette and decor. During an introductory onstage conversation, OV founder Philip King described the Storehouse as the festival’s “home away from home”, a sentiment echoed by Guinness Storehouse managing director Catherine Toolan.

As ever, Other Voices delivered a well curated mix of Irish and international talent, with Dublin punks SPRINTS opening the night in incendiary fashion. Launching straight into the scathing ‘Descartes’, Karla Chubb’s ferocious vocal delivery cut through the room as distortion swelled behind her. A blistering rendition of ‘Pieces’ followed, before the band closed with the slow-burning Spanish guitar of ‘Desire’.

SPRINTS at Other Voices Home at the Guinness Storehouse Photo: Patrik Meier.

The mood shifted seamlessly with the arrival of Rachel Chinouriri. The Croydon singer-songwriter, whose debut album What A Devastating Turn Of Events landed her a UK Top 20 spot last year, delivered one of the standout performances of the evening.

Known for her dreamy, synth-laced bedroom pop, Chinouriri’s set was accompanied by a single guitarist laying down jazzy, understated chords, presenting her music in a stripped back light.

Rachel Chinouriri at Other Voices Home at the Guinness Storehouse Photo: Patrik Meier.

Charming, self-aware and disarmingly honest, she joked that her songs all stem from disastrous relationships, before letting her soft, husky voice do the heavy lifting. The audience was putty in her hands, echoing back the refrain of ‘All I Ever Asked’.

Rowdiness returned as Falkirk’s Brògeal followed, making their Other Voices debut. They could be loosely described as Scotland’s answer to The Pogues, and fresh from their acclaimed debut album Tuesday Paper Club, they felt completely at ease in St James’s Gate.

The LP’s title track had the crowd stomping along to its Celtic rhythms, while the sprawling ‘Lonesome Boatman’ proved a highlight, with singer Aidan Callaghan switching to tin whistle for an extended jam that surged with swelling drums and atmospheric folk flourishes.

Brògeal at Other Voices Home at the Guinness Storehouse Photo: Patrik Meier.

After a short interval, the evening took a quieter, more reflective turn as acclaimed Dublin poet Paula Meehan took the stage to read her poem ‘Home’. Spare, powerful and affecting, the piece explored the complexity of belonging, and fitting for a night built around the idea of home, it was a reminder that the concept can be as complicated as it is comforting.

Paula Meehan at Other Voices Home at the Guinness Storehouse Photo: Patrik Meier.

Closing out the night was a festive, folky and sweet-sounding performance from Other Voices stalwart Lisa Hannigan. Joined by the Theodora Byrne Trio, who are among Ireland’s most in-demand collaborators, Hannigan was typically expressive and assured, her voice interweaving with the trio’s keyboard-perfect harmonies. The Ukulele, cello and layered vocals gave the set an acoustic, hearthside warmth, as did sleigh bells, which emerged for Hannigan’s ode to festive radio, ‘Christmas FM’.

Lisa Hannigan and the Theodora Byrne Trio at Other Voices Home at the Guinness Storehouse Photo: Patrik Meier.