“Zena, sick. SHE, sick. International women’s week, sick!”

It’s International Women’s week. A time for all women to acknowledge and celebrate how far we have come. This week is about self-love and love for all the women around you. Women should never be treated any less than intelligent, strong and powerful. Whether it’s in the workplace, the education system, the media or the music industry. There shouldn’t just be one week or one day to commemorate our history and our progress - every day should be women’s day.

Zena events in Manchester, is diligently working to put on gigs to encourage and showcase women musicians. The night is called, SHE.

Listening to Katie Pham and the Moonbathers is just like taking a bite into an orange. At first, their sound is sweet and juicy, but the aftertaste has a zesty, zingy edge. Who doesn’t love oranges?

They start off with a cool, laid back vibe. Every time the shimmering guitar rang out a note, I imagined invisible bubbles seeping out of the speakers and floating over the audience heads. The bubbles satisfyingly pop and droplets of lush, mellifluous music showers down onto everyone. The audience is captivated.

As the set goes on, it becomes increasingly apparent how musically talented this band is. The soft, serene vocals are in unison with the bass, making the instrument prominent in the three-piece. The bass explores the harmonic territory of each progression. The audience infatuated by the bassist’s impressive solo’s. The wavy, dissonant tone and the chromatics on the guitar complement every song perfectly. Their new song is sultry, with dreamy dual singing and a sensational, jazz infused LoFi - it’s a crowd pleaser.

If you take a peep through the chilled exterior of the band, an innocent candyfloss-like nature appears. The vocalist shouts, “get ready for an emotional rollercoaster” before they perform their last couple of songs. Their awkward nature is expressed by the singer after she makes a comment about how gorgeous everyone is, following with “sorry that’s the result of being locked in a house for two weeks.” Although humorous, the band expressing their introverted side makes them seem even more relatable.

The washes of ambient sounds, make me imagine a watercolour painting. Each intricate addition to the songs is just like a brush stroke adding to the bigger picture. This band knows where they are heading. Katie is a liberating woman, who is hilarious as well as humble. Taking an egg out of her pocket during the set, throwing it at the crowd during their encore and saying, “it was boiled the whole time”. She is showing women to embrace who they are and not be ashamed of it.

The Golden Age of TV are the support. On the stage, flowers are wrapped around the microphone stands and in vases. The artistic set up completely reflects the vocalist’s aura, peaceful and graceful. However, it does more than that. The flowers seem to represent the intricacy of this band, all the instruments intertwining.

It’s chaos but in a good way - the eccentricity, the jumpiness and the sassy personality of the whole band makes you feel alive. Some songs with a quirky ⅝ groove, some with a great use of polyrhythms and incredible control of dynamics. The endearing vocals take the crowd in, making everyone hang onto every note. It’s as if the band are all able to overcome their fears and their struggles through their music, showing their strength as individuals and as musicians.