Would you meet me by the riverside?

With the dazzling purple lights shining upon Cove Red’s , Rachael, Suyin and their guest for the night, Jo Ren kicked off their first set sharply at 7.30pm to the crowd of over 200 people.

Starting off with their cover of Irish Rock band’s U2, “All I Want Is You”, we had the feeling that Cove Red was just another acoustic Duo who played songs related to relationships and love, though this was not to be.

After listening to their original written tracks like “Dreamer”, “Two travellers” and “Sarah”, it all seemed different. Songs about life and aspirations accompanied with a touch of nostalgia made them stand out extremely quickly not only to us, but to other audiences as well. Like what Suyin mentioned, they “wanted their fans to feel sheltered with their songs where it makes them feel safe and covered.”

Rachael was playing the guitar and the xylophone while Suyin was on the guitar and keyboards. Jo Ren who interestingly is also Suyin’s brother was on the Cello.

The first set consisted of 10 songs which included a classic from the Wizard of Oz, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”. With the festive season just round the corner, they added this Christmas flavour to end off their set with a famous Christmas carol “have yourself a merry little Christmas”.

We eventually decided that the second set was worth watching as the Urban Ignite team waited for the next set which started at 8.45pm.

We expected their second set to be of similar standard to their first, but it was beyond our expectations. There were 9 songs in this particular set, which included a cover of Rachael Yamagata’s, “Meet Me By the Water” and Leonardo Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.

However, what really took Urban Ignite by surprise was their original song “Oxygen” which had an electronic Indie feel that was similar to American Indie Pop band, The Postal Service.



Another original single written by Suyin titled “Elegy” also caught our attention not by how the song was sung or what instruments were played, but the inspiration behind it. Unlike how African kids suffer from poverty, “modern” people like us Singaporeans suffer from a more psychological type of poverty.

So did Cove Red have any parting information to let us know?



They could only give us little information to when their first album would be released, which Rachael mentioned, “probably late next year”. With that in conclusion, trying putting Cove and Red together, and you’ll get the meaning behind it.





Urban Ignite Team, Khalis: What struck me the most about Cove Red was how they used the Cello to bring emotions to the song. There were times during the gig; I was just staring at the Cello. With Rachael’s sexy vocals, and Suyin’s fingers strumming the chords, the Cello added a delicate touch to the trio. A perfect fusion indeed.

Urban Ignite Team, Kavin: A Band that even used a paper bag as instruments to add to the “texture” of the song, they stand out from other local bands for their originality and quirkiness. With Rachael’s voice drawing comparison to Amy Lee who is the Lead singer of rock band Evanescence, You could feel the passion and energy in their performances and if I’ve to pay to watch another performance just before they’re to work on their new album in the studios, I would gladly do so.