Fortnightly Music Reviews from the streets of Teesside and beyond Arborist aka Mark McCambridge is a Northern Ireland singer songwriter with a glorious voice like golden syrup. His stripped down sound allows us to edge nearer not just to the singer but to the lyrics and melancholy moods imparted by his songs. Its deserted on the high street in Looking 4 Love. It is not how he imagines it, he sings in Matisse. He should have seen it in his head. We can picture it all in our heads. Because Arborist truly does paint pictures with his songs.
Arborist, Hector Gannett, Angel’s Cut, Darlington, 5 May 2026
He even finds a corner of his set to cover Velvet Underground's Pale Blue Eyes before bursting into a purely vocal rendition of The Leaving of Liverpool. A song of emigration with overtones on both sides of the Irish Sea for those departing for the New World.
Arborist It is the evening after the Bank Holiday so things really ought to be quiet out, but I have taken the last seat available upstairs at Angel's Cut. The L shaped upstairs room might be rammed but you could hear a pin drop. We feel privileged to be able to get up so close and personal to the songwriters behind the bands. With the fairy lights twinkling to one side it is lovely setting for a Watermill session profiling two exceptional musical talents.
Mark calls up Aaron to accompany him on a song that also features a recording of a third living, wheezing, coughing sentient being in an ancient pump organ. Atmospheric, moving, soulful. Another special night at Angels Cut. Words: Robert Nichols Pictures: Jimm Barr
Or rather three talents, because Hector Gannett singer/guitarist Aaron Duff is joined tonight on keyboards by Alex Blamire. Having witnessed Hector Gannett the band, and also in solo form, the duo with the harmonising voices and keys and guitar makes for interestingly different arrangements of songs. Named after the stricken fishing boat that his grandfather crewed Aaron's roots are never far from the surface. His powerful, emotive voice blasts out the clever wordplay of the lyrics. As he is at pains to point out the North Shields singer songwriter is really a long way from the Americana tag sometimes wrongly pinned to his sound. There are far more powerful trans-Atlantic bridges to be made to the underdog tales of Bruce Springsteen or in vocal sounding across the Irish Sea to Van Morrison. Or perhaps make that Morrison's because Aaron seems to be haunted or stalked by a phantom harmonica player whenever he shops at his local supermarket branch.
Arborist & Hector Gannett
Off The Beat with Robert Nichols and Tracy Hyman