Dom the Composer sets the stage of Daniella Dee’s headline London show
On March 15th, the Boston-based alt-soul artist Dom the Composer took to the stage of the Strongroom, Shoreditch for his fourth ever London performance.
The first opening act of the night, Dom was joined by his friends and bandmates Alec Robert Sage (guitar), Glen Njeru (bass), Savien Jean (drums) and Josh McDonough (guitar).
Hailing all the way from Boston, Dom and his band had planned a week-long trip to the city, playing in venues such as Next Door Records, Off The Cuff and Greenwich Theatre for their headline show. Documenting their journey through a series of tour vlogs, you can see what they go up to first via Dom’s Instagram:
To learn a little more about Dom and his music before reading on, you can also check out his Artist Interview with VoiceNoted from last September!
Not long after doors, we headed into the venue to go and say hi to the band before their final performance of the trip. Where exposed brick walls met plush red curtains and a cable-covered stage, the intimate space was quickly filling up with people excited to hear their set.
Jumping straight into action at 8:15pm, Dom and his band began with a stellar performance of Be Honest, a groovy single from 2023 where Dom sings: “Can you ride a ship / And never face the waves? / Can you trust the hands / That never held a face? / And be honest, just be honest.” Concluding the song, Dom took a moment to introduce himself to the crowd:
“My name’s Dom the Composer and this is my lovely band behind me. As you can tell, we’re not from here - we’re from Boston, Massachusetts. As you can tell, our country’s doing really great right now so we decided to take a break! [the crowd laughs] But we’re going to take some time with you guys, is that alright?”
Met by a chorus of cheers and whoops, they headed into their second song, Mixed Signals. A brighter, mid-tempo tune about - you guessed it - being sent mixed signals, our favourite lyrics come in the second verse: “Am I overthinking / Or am I just over-expecting / Maybe you’re nervous / To let someone in again / The waters are murky / But I’ll follow you to the deep end.” With the crowd clapping along to the beat, Dom asked them to “repeat after me real quickly - ‘stop sending mixed signals’”, and soon the entire room filled with harmonies.
Their third song of the night, the band swiftly moved onto Glass Box, an emotional ballad about bottling memories, lingering silences and beds filled with shadows. Home to some of Dom’s most stunning lyricism, hearing this song live definitely did it justice!
”Tonight we have Glen on bass, Alec and Josh on guitar, and Savien on drums,” Dom said. “All of us met in the same college and I’m so grateful for these guys following me all the way across the world. For this next song, we need a little bit of audience participation.”
“Ibakikakikacan,” he sung to the crowd. “We’re speaking gibberish now, but repeat after me!” And soon enough, the soulful drums led into the next song of their set, Dancing in the Leaves. An aptly named ‘overthinking anthem,’ the lyrics go a little like this: “Overthinking every convo like a tango / Am I stepping to your right? / Are we swaying side by side? / My heartbeat makes the rhythm a little uneven / It’s your mariposa smile / And I could stare for hours / But there’s too much tension in my shoulders / And I should have told her.”
Next was our favourite song, Fallout which also happens to be Dom’s latest release! Since joining Spotify on March 7th, Fallout has surpassed 5,700 streams and resonated deeply with many of Dom’s fans. A song that tackles the fear of being let down by the people who swore to protect you, it’s dazzling soundscape and heartfelt lyricism easily - in our opinion - takes top spot within Dom’s discography.
“This song came out last Friday,” he said. “It’s just a quick dissertation about how well our governments doing right now. I don’t think I have to explain much more.”
“I want to say a big thank you to the Strongroom and Daniella Dee for having us,” Dom said after the last notes of his fifth upbeat ballad, Dancing faded. “This next song is one of my favourites to play. Bit of a backstory, I have a brother. He’s an older brother and like older brothers are, he always tells me I need to do different things and I’m like no I want to do them my way. He tells me I need to make ‘sexy r&b music’ but no one needs to hear that [he laughs] and neither do my parents so I do my own thing at that’s what this song is about!”
A track titled Where is the soul? this one was an instant crowd favourite, with the entire room clapping along to the beat. Also the final song of Dom and his band’s set, they said one final goodbye before heading back into the crowd for the rest of the night.
For those who missed it, here’s Dom’s setlist from The Strongroom, Shoreditch:
Be Honest
Mixed Signals
Glass Box
Fallout
Dancing
Where is the Soul
After the performance, we had the chance to catch up with Dom about all the adventures he and the band had enjoyed throughout their trip. With an early flight home booked for the morning, we recommended he try a Wetherspoons breakfast before heading back! Having spent a lovely night with even lovelier people, we can safely say that Dom the Composer’s London performance was one of this year’s favourites, and though Dom and his band had to swiftly return home to Boston, we hope to see them again someday.
In the meantime, make sure to follow Dom the Composer on Instagram and stream the rest of his music on Spotify below:
