Gig review: Folk Bitch Trio at The Bodega

Historically, The Bodega has caught myriad household names right before they hit it big (Arctic Monkeys, Haim, and The Strokes might ring a few bells?), and left those early concert attendees with the smug satisfaction of having seen them before they were ‘mainstream’. From the reception the Aussie trio got last night, this writer has reason to believe that Folk Bitch Trio will soon be joining that list.

Formed in 2020, Folk Bitch Trio released a few independent singles before signing with Jagjagwuar in 2025, releasing their debut album Now Would Be a Good Time that same year. Made up of long-term friends Gracie Sinclair, Heide Peverelle and Jeanie Pilkington, the group share vocal duties equally and are characterised by their close harmonies, with Peverelle and Pilkington doing most of the guitar work.

Before the main act we were treated to an opening set from Georgia Harmer, a statuesque singer-songwriter from Toronto, Canada. Playing a half-hour of gentle, melancholy songs reminiscent of Haley Henderickx and Adrianne Lenker, she showcased an impressive finger-picking guitar style and expressed her appreciation of British crowd’s lengthy applause. “In North America, I’d have eight seconds to tune up!” she laughed.

Folk Bitch Trio began their set with a cover of Ted Lucas’s I’ll Find A Way (To Carry It All), an ideal vehicle to display their impeccable three-part harmonies. Each a skilled vocalist in their own right, Sinclair, Peverelle and Pilkington are something special when they sing together, belonging to all of them and inextricable from any singular member. Their style might remind you of Boygenius, another indie trio, or Ireland’s sorely underrated Rufous Nightjar. There were moments of Cathode Ray and Sarah that evoked soft gasps from the audience - perhaps not the raucous cheers you might expect from a rock venue on a Saturday night, but reaction to the sheer skill of the musicians before them.

The trio were all dressed in black with silver jewellery, and remained stationary onstage, not swapping to the centre for their lead vocal turns. The stage was sparse and the performance lacking in theatricals, this ended up being beneficial to their cause, forcing the audience to focus on the specificity of the music, from Jeanie Pilkington’s bluesy, Roy-Orbison tinged guitar to Heide Peverelle’s subdued but compelling work on a hollow-bodied semi-acoustic. For a set made up of just three people and their guitars, there were few moments when silence was an issue.

Gracie Sinclair seemed the most inclined to joke with the audience, commenting on her appreciation of Nottingham’s weekend party scene (“I went over to Sainsbury’s at 6:30 and everyone was out!”). Several comments were made about the wistfulness of their song’s subject matter, “Warning, this one’s a bummer - well, you bought a ticket, you know that”. Fan favourites Analogue and God’s a Different Sword were particularly well received, the latter closing out the set and sending fans in a beeline to the merch table to pick up their LPs and T-shirts.

The greatest honour of the evening was undoubtedly getting to hear two as-yet unreleased tracks, My Angel and Tower Of, emphasised as never before having been heard by anyone outside of the trio and their immediate circle, and the implication of a second album being imminent. To be a part of the first audience in the world to have heard a song played live is a special experience indeed, and without spoiling it for anyone heading to later tour dates, both tunes were of the same calibre as anything on Now Would Be A Good Time.

Finishing off their hour-long set with a flourish, Folk Bitch Trio have embarked on what is sure to be a successful tour, with upcoming dates in Edinburgh, London and Bristol. They are at a stage where their raw potential is not yet matched by the amount of material they have on offer. With accomplished musicianship and those all-encompassing harmonies that could give the prime-era Wilson brothers a run for their money, it’s only a matter of time until they get where they’re meant to go.

Folk Bitch Trio performed at The Bodega on 7th March 2026.

@folkbitchtrio