Simeon Hammond Dallas “Make it Romantic” EP Launch @ The Lexington 22/8/22

The London-based songwriter draws a diverse crowd - Camden scenesters, nerdy songwriting aficionados and urbane boomers stand elbow-to-elbow with Gen-Z tiktokers and elegant beatniks, all amiably mingling as opener Joe Corbin warms up the room with a set of chunky blues numbers.

Simeon Hammond-Dallas has spent the past few years blazing her own trail. When a break up with a controlling label in 2017 left her bruised but unbowed (an experience which inspired the anthemic “Wild Woman” off her previous EP) she channelled her ire into music, writing prolifically, assembling a crack team of musicians, and cultivating a wickedly unapologetic social media presence. The subsequent few years have seen her national profile grow, being championed by the BBC and the UK Americana Association, while her coterie of die-hard supporters steadily multiplies. 

When Simeon takes to the stage tonight then, there is a note not just of celebration, but also of vindication. While many in the room tonight must have been won over on the songs alone, there is a feeling also of tribute to the grit and charm she has displayed while stewarding them into the world.

The audience ecstatically sway as the band launches into “Out To You”, a lush, headnoddy Americana zinger, but the atmosphere switches with “Attention”, an searing excoriation of an ex-lover, almost bordering on inverse revenge porn. As a writer Simeon’s unfettered voice has only become stronger since her last EP, but one of the most gratifyingly scathing moments comes with “The Blues Is A Game” – a caustic twelve-bar takedown of poseur white-boy songwriters adopting the aesthetic of black music for their own advantage, whilst never acknowledging their own privilege. “You ain’t got the blues you’re just a sad, sad man” Hammond-Dallas encourages the room to sing along, jovially. Everyone reciprocates, delighted.

The power trio backing band briefly bow out near mid-set, carving out space for the barbed tenderness and vulnerability of “Betting on You” and “Eat” to shine through on Simeon’s unaccompanied acoustic guitar and voice. The last five songs of the set are a rollicking downhill freewheel through SHD’s recent releases, where her impressive chops as a lead guitarist are couched by the disciplined voodoo of accompanists Max O’Hara on keys, Westley Joseph on drums and Leon Itzler on bass.

A telling moment comes when an audience member faints in the front row - Simeon immediately halts the band with one hand stock still in the air. Punters help the person to the side of the room and provide water, and without comment or fanfare, the show resumes. There is an implicit contract in this room.

The last song arrives and the Lexington brays for an encore. The band theatrically leave the stage, and then return – but Hammond-Dallas keeps everyone waiting just long enough for chanting to break out - and only then returns, beaming, in a gold-tasselled cape.

The final, generous slug of charm comes in the form of “Make It Romantic” – a knowing yet tender soul ballad where Simeon dictates the terms on which she will be remembered by an ex-lover. Simeon Hammond-Dallas is an artist of imagination and skill – but it’s her candid reckoning with her own vulnerability, her refusal to censor or sanitise her own faults, and her willingness to bare them all in public to be devoured and celebrated – that sets her apart from so many of her peers.

The band punches their way to a pithy ending, and the Lexington heaves into a final, joyous roar. The sense of emotional release in the room is palpable. And if the devotion her music inspires is anything to go on, Simeon Hammond-Dallas’s star is destined to continue rising.

www.simeonhammonddallas.com

WORDS: JAMES RILEY