Sounds of Manchester 20/02/21: Ash Palmer

With his Kelly Jones cool, and sunglasses inside, Ash Palmer is the first artist (and only soloist) in the Simian Audio Rehearsal Rooms – alongside his Manager Owen Meikle-Williams. Ash did a stripped back acoustic set, opening with his original The Love That Lets You Live. The sound is fresh, and it encapsulates Ash’s influences, the song itself would not be out of place on a Stereophonics album. Ash’s jangly guitar compliments his voice perfectly, and the guitar is reminiscent of The Only Ones Another Girl, Another Planet, with a relatively fast paced bridge that not only added an extra layer of depth to the song, and it also creates a sense of nostalgia. The mild rasp in Ash’s voice provides a strong emotion to the song and the power behind his words come from the heart – it reminds me of Could You Be the One by Stereophonics.

Speaking of Stereophonics, Ash also covered Local Boy in the Photograph. Ash’s voice is iconic – giving the track a signature sound, which would certainly make Kelly Jones proud. Ash knows how to make a song his own, and he achieves this with his cover; it is clear to any listener that Ash loves Stereophonics – the atmosphere in the studio as Ash was performing was chilled out, everyone was loving the performance – he did the track justice, not only with his skills as a singer, but also as a musician.

Ash also performed a song that I know I can relate to, The Last Song , concerning a student romance, where you find one person that you feel like you have the world in common with, and I think that the sentiment, even though within the narrative the relationship invariably breaks down, of meeting someone that just reminds you of yourself is universal – and one I can relate all too well with at the moment. This song certainly made me sit back and contemplate how I feel about certain people in my life, and what I’m going to do about it and in my opinion the ability to invoke deep thought in people is a trait that for songwriters is like a diamond, rare and beautiful.

Ash has also got several other singles already released such as 300 Days, I Made You Toast and The Only Mod in Manchester, all of which are available on YouTube.

Photography by Owen Meikle-Williams