In the third in our monthly series, Hey! Manchester brings you the picks of the best live gigs Manchester has to offer.
Jesca Hoop
Californian singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop marks the release of her latest album, Undress, with a date at one of the city’s favourite venues, the Deaf Institute. The record is a live and intimate rendering of her 2009 album Hunting My Dress – with stripped-back duets featuring Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Willy Mason and Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam among the highlights. Having been based in Manchester for several years now, Hoop has become something of an adopted daughter of the city – and with so much talent on show, it’s easy to see why. The Deaf Institute, Fri 11 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets £10 adv
Paul Thomas Saunders
Fresh-faced Leeds musician Paul Thomas Saunders has been working on his debut album for the past four years – and it finally sees the light of day this month. With influences as diverse as Joe Meek, Leonard Cohen and composers Vangelis and Jean-Claude Vannier, Saunders’s Beautiful Desolation promises epic psychedelic soundscapes galore, if its three preceding EPs are anything to go by. Soup Kitchen, Sat 12 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets £6 adv
Liz Green
One of the city’s finest storytellers, Liz Green follows up her debut album with Haul Away! – and there’s an album launch show at Salford’s excellent First Chop Brewing Arm to celebrate. Green first popped up with her distinctively expressive voice to scoop the 2007 Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, before releasing her album O, Devotion! in 2011. The follow-up, released this month, sees Green tackle emotive subjects such as love, home, travel, mythology and death in her highly recognisable style. First Chop Brewing Arm, Sat 26 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets £7 adv
Micah P Hinson
Tennessee-born, Texas-based musician Micah P Hinson visits this month for his first Manchester show in four years. Since then, Hinson has been involved in a near-fatal car crash in Spain, and was only able to release his seventh album, Micah P Hinson and The Nothing, with the help of friends including The Twilight Sad. Once a regular in Manchester, where he was regularly backed by local favourites The Earlies, this is a welcome return for an artist who has strong links with the city. The Ruby Lounge, Mon 28 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets £15 adv
School of Language
The side project of Field Music’s David Brewis, School of Language recorded their second LP Old Fears in the former’s studio on the banks of the River Wear in Sunderland. The album incorporates melancholic funk, iridescent electro, shimmering post-punk and futurist prog – a heady mixture that will likely appeal to fans of our own Dutch Uncles. A prolific artist, Brewis has assembled and played in Eleanor Friedberger’s touring band, produced Maximo Park, remixed Dutch Uncles and Phoenix Foundation, performed a score to 1929 silent documentary Drifters and composed pieces inspired by books shortlisted for the inaugural Gordon Burn Literary Prize – all in the past 12 months. The Deaf Institute, Mon 28 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets £9 adv