Cherry Seraph @ The Washington
The night was a triumph of female electronic and alternative music in a city that desperately needs much more of it.
Words by Leo Howard-Cofield / Photography by Jamburrito
21st February 2025
Tuned In Events are fast becoming one of the most acclaimed music events organisers in Sheffield. This night at The Washington is more than enough proof as to why.
The Washington is a small, tastefully gloomy bar located just behind Devonshire Green’s skatepark. The venue thrives off its cluttered, vintage aesthetics. Cherry Seraph’s music has a futuristic and other-worldy vibe. This could be seen as something of a mismatch then, no? Well I am here to put your mind at ease and tell you that this was far from the case. The night was a triumph of female electronic and alternative music in a city that desperately needs much more of it.
The night begins with an opening set from a Bradford local, ‘HerOrangeCoat’ (it is worth noting that all of these artists tonight are Northern born and bred). Despite being called up quite last minute to open the night, and (as she admits to me after her set) being rather ill, HerOrangeCoat put on an incredible performance to set the tone for the rest of the night. Her use of backing tracks lathered with rich harmonies as well as tasteful recoder (yes, the much maligned school instrument!!), stringed instrument and extra ukulele parts is absolutely captivating and makes for an extremely enjoyable listen which eases the nerves of even the most anxiety riddled souls.
Then comes Vera Sacra, an electronic musician who utilises her classical training in cello to create dark, full tracks with often whispered, introspective lyricism. Her set begins with no introduction. And she quickly proves why no introduction is necessary.
Watching Vera Sacra pace across the miniscule stage with apparent ease feels like a privilege to witness. She jumps from cello to vocals to synth, making micro-adjustments to her pedals to create the most enchanting, gothic soundscapes which, thanks to her use of drums and vocal samples, would also not feel out of place in a boiler room set.
Vera Sacra is definitely one to watch in Sheffield in the coming years, something about her sound gives the sense that she has beat an incoming trend and will be pioneering a new sound in the not-so-distant future.
Then comes the headliner, Cherry Seraph. At this point of the night The Washington is starting to fill up with those beginning their night out (it is a Friday after all). This is of no concern at all to Cherry Seraph who is unphased by the movement around her. She immediately commands everyone’s attention with the powerful, pulsing kick drum of her opening track ‘Self Destruct’. The wordcraft present in this song is hugely satisfying, with a filter gradually muting the repeated lyrics “as I’m slowly suffocating” - for this genius choice alone she deserves some sort of award.
As opposed to the other two artists of the night, Cherry Seraph is equipped with only a microphone, a laptop and an Ableton Push. As a guitarist, watching her mastery over the equipment in real time is like watching a person control a spaceship; she seemed so familiar with each knob and button’s wildly different capabilities despite there (at least seemingly) being around a hundred of them. Another stand-out track of the set, ‘Ego Death’, in its vocal melody seemingly draws inspiration from traditional folk music, which to me was a satisfying and unexpected blend of influences.
To finish off her eclectic set of euphoria mixed with grounded introspection, Cherry Seraph decides to treat us to a live performance of her new single: ‘wormz’. By this point in her set I’ve managed to work my way to the very front of the stage and to see an artist take so much honest pride and joy in a song they’ve created is great. It was a victory lap of a closer - the set took us through her musical career up until this point and ends with her most recent creation, a wonderful song which gives a glimpse to what we can expect from Cherry Seraph in the future: more fun, more dancing, more emotion captured and bottled into songs, and more brilliance.
Honestly if you haven’t seen or heard of Cherry Seraph or the other wonderful artists on this line-up yet, and you are a fan of electronic/alternative music, what's going on? Tuned In did a wonderful job curating such a well thought-out night and I can’t wait to see what they (and each of these artists) do next! Up the North!
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