It’s clear she’s one of the most exciting and important voices in indie pop right now.
Words: Abigail Firth.
Photos: Patrick Gunning.
For those rising early on Sunday, Rachel Chinouriri’s lunchtime Other Stage set is a rollercoaster of emotion. In a year that’s seen Rachel rise and rise, tracks from her long-awaited debut album ‘What a Devastating Turn of Events’ get the major outing they deserve at Glastonbury’s second biggest stage.
As a Black woman in the indie world, she takes the time to thank those who’ve paved the way for her on these very stages, like Skunk Anansie’s Skin and Noisettes’ Shingai Shoniwa; when she gets up there, she doesn’t waste a single second.
Between vital tracks about her place in the UK like ‘The Hills’, and sing-along anthems ‘All I Ever Asked’ and ‘Ribs’, there’s a tearful rendition of ‘Robbed’, which she dedicates to the children whose lives were cut short as a result of the continuous bombing of Gaza.
For those who aren’t so familiar with Rachel’s discography, she adds in a cover of Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ to balance out the emotionally heavier portion of the set, and by the time she closes on the euphoric ‘Never Need Me’, it’s clear she’s one of the most exciting and important voices in indie pop right now.
Leave a Reply