Gig Review: Kris Drever and Polly Paulusma at Thornton Hough Village Hall - Saturday 08 November 2025

Words and photos: RBY

A folk double bill in a village hall in the absolutely scenic Thornton Hough. The Village Hall there has been championing gigs of a generally folky nature for years, a little gem of hushed audiences sat around small tables with quiet appreciation of whatever artist is playing. Tonight the lineup is Kris Drever, a significant force in folk music via his solo songs and performances with the classic band Lau; and Polly Paulusma, an equally vital force in the modern folk scene including playing at Glastonbury.

Polly is just started as we arrive and it seems proper that we and others wait for her to finish her current track before we shuffle in as quietly as possible. Her music is of a personal nature and celebrates the smaller things in life. Love is referenced through housework in a way we can’t justify with written words, tiny things between two people are to the fore in her work and she changes between highly skilled keyboard songs and more minimalistic guitar based ones. Its full of warmth and her vocals are deeply introspective but strong. The personal nature of her songs and the warmth of her chats with the audience make her performance highly emotional.

Kris Drever takes us on a journey through songs he’s picked up around the world, some Lau material and some of his own. An early highlight is Scapa Flow 1919 which describes the German Fleet being scuttled by its own sailors in Orkney written from the perspective of a German navy sailor. Kirk has a warm and deeply resonant voice and his guitar playing is exemplary, complex when it suits with passages were he emulates a fiddle sound and at other times big and almost heavy. The sound in the Village Hall is astoundingly clear and between that and Kris’s skilful playing every note is articulated to the audience. Its a performance you can just fall into letting the melodic barrage of notes and warm subject material take you with kris as he guides you through his thinking expressed musically.