A night of live folk music at To The Moon
Following my interview with Mallory Chipman, I was keen to see her play live, so last Friday I headed to To The Moon, where she was playing in the seventh show of her UK and Ireland tour with fellow Canadian Maddisun,alongside Canadian-turned-Bristol based Cassidy Zahar. Based just off of Old Market street, To The Moon stands out with its colourfully painted exterior, a space which we later learnt was an old birdseed shop, a past now reflected on the venue's walls, decorated with drawings of birds in flight. In typical UoB student style, I hadn’t ventured much outside of the city centre, so I felt a strange and exciting sense of being somewhere new and different.
This feeling heightened slightly when I entered the venue, where I became surrounded by friendly Canadian accents, but soon dissipated as I was instantly welcomed into a warm and intimate room off the side of the main bar by Maddisun, while Cassidy Zahar graced the audience with her bluesy melodies. In my interview with Mallory, she spoke of the culture of ‘listening rooms’ in her gigs. I hadn't truly understood what she meant at the time, but upon entering, I immediately understood. The small audience of fellow musicians, friends and spontaneous live music enthusiasts sat and simply listened, interacting with the performers. It felt as if I had been inducted into a group of supportive and extremely musically talented friends, making music together in someone’s living room.
After Zahar finished by warming us up with a sweet sing along number, Mallory Chipman took to the stage accompanied by bandmates Esther Forseth on acoustic guitar and Brett Hansen on electric guitar. The tight-knit trio opened their set with ‘Diving’ from Chipman’s 2023 EP As Though I Had Wings, aptly named as her voice soared like the birdsong upon which the melody was based. A highlight of the gig was the way the artists spoke in depth about the stories, inspirations and process behind writing each song, a vulnerability afforded by the close setting. Next, Chipman showcased her lyrical prowess in ‘Mythic Time’, my personal favourite track of hers. Amongst Forceth’s whispered harmonies and Hansen’s intricate fingerpicking patterns, Chipman’s lyrics asks the question ‘is it possible to learn about where you are from through folklore, stories and myths?’. Inspired by her own family, the quest to find ancestry and the sadness of losing traditions, she sings of ‘hand-me-down memories’ and ‘heirlooms without a home’. The song is part of Songs for a Wild God, the album which got her nominated for Solo Artist of the Year for the 2026 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Delving deeper into the themes of family and memory, she then performed the single from her latest EP, ‘Soft Shoe’, a heartwrenching ode to her maternal grandmother and the healing power of music. The lyrics conjured palpable feelings of nostalgia for everyone in the room.
Diverging from personal, emotive tracks, unreleased track ‘Workhorses’ delivered a more political message. The tradition of folk music as protest songs lives on in Chipman’s anti-capitalist lyrics, set to Hansen’s rhythmic fingerpicking skipping along until the final room-filling crescendo. Recalling the extreme weathers of hometown Edmonton (at -20 degrees currently the coldest place on the Earth, they understandably found our winter weather ‘mild’), she evoked the relatable, underlying feeling of climate anxiety in yet another unreleased track ‘Subliminal’. The slide guitar was the star of the show in catchy alternative country hit ‘Wild Creek’, creating an unexpected fullness of sound. The perfect end to the set was created with ‘Road Song’ and ‘Sing me Home’, giving the impression of returning home after a long journey through foreign lands. For the two Canadian singers, singing about their homelands and family is a way to stay connected to them, as well as a way to share them with audiences across the other side of the globe.
After a short break, Maddisun stepped into the spotlight, her guitar in hand and ‘shoe-berine’ at her feet. Her catchy country-tinged songs spoke of growing up in British Columbia, her father and the ‘mountain that is the music industry, and life’. The highpoint for me was the titular track of her latest album, The Pages, which reminds listeners to stay in the present, not dwell on the future, nor the past, a message all too relevant to an anxious final year student like myself! Her cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ got everyone singing along, with Maddisuns effortless soprano voice floating along the top. After regaling us with stories of her unconventional family upbringing with unreleased song ‘Natural People’, she finished up her set with ‘To Heal’, which reveals the power of music to bring you back to yourself in difficult times.
As the gig ended I felt calm and content, warmed by the personal and uplifting performances by all three artists. The intimate setting of To The Moon had allowed them to connect with the audience on a deeply personal level, and their impeccable vocal and songwriting skills shone throughout. It made me excited to hear where their talent will take them, and keen to experience more live music in Bristol.
