Say She She—short And Chic In Manchester

When the Anglo-American trio Say She She made their debut last year on the Later... with Jools television programme their performance made a lasting impression and, in the process, gained a larger audience.

Say She She takes its name from a twist on Nile Rodgers' Chic, blending their sound from the disco and funk period of the late seventies with their own distinctive voices. Sabrina Cunningham's classically trained voice blends well with those of English-born Piya Malik and Nya Gazelle Brown, whose harmonies sounded ideally placed in the former methodist church that is now the Albert Hall concert venue in Manchester.

That the trio have not yet had a big hit says something of their power to sell out venues, though with two albums to their credit, 2022’s Prism and 2023’s Silver, they had a stellar back catalogue of songs to fall back upon.

The tracks off the latter album, such as Astral Plane and Reeling, say all you need to know about Say She She—great songs that will still sound good in ten years’ time. The trio have been touring for most of the year; at times the fatigue began to show as the energy levels and enthusiasm dropped slightly mid-set, though this was not too surprising with Brown heavily pregnant. As they performed Under the Gun, Brown massaged her large bump lovingly while her two other band members danced away blissfully.

Their talented backing band Orgone took centre stage as the girls briefly left the stage, treating the audience to Sophisticated Trunks, a solid and funky groove that never outlasted its stay.

A cover of Talking Heads’s Slippery People took them back to their New York roots whilst the Jackson Sisters cover of I Believe in Miracles sounded as if the track was one of their own, though a surprise inclusion of the RAH band’s Message from the Stars begged the question of how did Say She She discover this minor 1983 hit from the British band?

The band moved their signature tune, C'est si bon, from the beginning of their set to a more powerful conclusion at the end, and the three danced together in unison as the band continued to play, the strobes from the mirror ball lighting up the hall on a night where their own light shone brightly.