So, the world of internet music magazines giveth and, just as quickly, it taketh away. I've been writing quite a lot. But as some of you have pointed out, you can't see any of this stuff appearing, well, anywhere. This has everything to do with a faulty upload/login and a somewhat unresponsive editor. But complaining gets one nowhere and so, instead, a roundup of all unpublished articles since beginning of May. A bumper blog of sorts. Catch-up! Catch-up!
Go - Jonsi *****
As I sit here eating my veggie sausages with bland yellow mustard, my child now, finally, napping post-tantrum, it occurs to me that sometimes one is sorely in need of transportation. I don’t mean trains, planes etc. I mean that sometimes as the humdrum of daily life drags us under the universal covers, a bit of escapism is required, even if just for a moment.
Enter our dear Jonsi, straight off the heroic SS Sigur Ros, transporting us back to that night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2003 when we watched mesmerised as Merce Cunningham’s dancers writhed away as Radiohead and SR axed poetic. Before babies and mortgages. Before responsibility. You get the idea.
On the 5th of April 2010, Jonsi released his first solo album, Go, and it is auditory heaven. From the first strains of the bold opening electronica on “Go Do” to its inevitable completion with an acoustic “Tornado,” an album of pure joy emerges. With definite flavours of SR inherent but in a radically poppier direction, this album has all the hallmarks of a fast favourite.
Bordering on classical in places (the mainline “Tornado” makes excellent use of both fat piano chords and glorious cello) through to more of a Postal Service approach to the poppier selections (“Boy Lilikoi) though done so much more effectively, Jonsi manages to weave a tapestry of life moments through his wall of sound and deceptively simple yet meaningful lyrics; must one be born in Scandinavia to lend such poetry to the English language?
After weeks of listening to the misery of Liars and Gil Scott-Heron, and in the cold, cold gray of island rain no less, the sun is finally shining and the music is matching. And as I hear Jonsi’s words of renewal and growth, songs of real life bolstered by hope and sung with that beautiful inimitable voice against those perfect melodies, I wonder if spring has finally arrived. And I switch to spicy mustard.
Jonsi is live at London’s HMV Forum 26 & 27 May.
Big Jet Plane – Angus & Julia Stone ***1/2
Oh the irony. The soundtrack during my futile argument with BA’s Customer Service was Big Jet Plane, the new EP from the family Stone.
This too short EP (with only four songs, it barely whets the appetite) delivers on one thing: cohesion. It has some very dark tones and really goes the extra mile to blend those with the sweet vocals of this brother/sister duo to strike the right balance. As they are notorious for each writing their own songs and then enriching those through work with the other, this is a very important point as it could easily go wrong.
Opening with the title track is the Paolo Nutuni-like vocals of Angus with backing from sis who then leads the show on “Living on a Rainbow.” I see the former as the single of the EP, certainly the more listenable/marketable of the two. The latter then takes over with superior vocals but perhaps a less fan-conscious sound.
“My Malakai” gives us big bro once again and this takes a note from the preceding piece, showcasing some beautiful acoustic picking then revving up to a more momentous song as the rhythm kicks in. And finally, Julia does a thoroughly excellent cover of “The One that I Want” from Grease. Just when you thought there was no way you’d ever like that song.
While Big Jet Plane may be a bit too sweet for some teeth, this is acoustic alchemy at its loveliest and well worth a listen. It will at the very least go some way to calm you down when the pen-pusher tells you that you’re wasting her time.
Leave Your Sleep - Natalie Merchant ****1/2
Happy people make rubbish music. It’s a proven fact. Let’s face it, the only thing that made the first Travis album a hit was how bloody miserable it was. The next thing you know, he has a wife and kid and we’re subjected to that flowers on the window song. Then there’s my old favourite, Liz Phair. First she’s singing F*** and Run, queen of antipathetic BJs, then she’s getting voice lessons and doing backing vocals for Sheryl Crow and soundtracking the women’s NCAA. No one listened to that Cure album that was all primary colours. And don’t even get me started on Cat Stevens.
Those of us who can remember as far back as the early 90s know that Natalie Merchant fell into that trap as well. Oddly, Tigerlilly was one of her biggest hits in the US but to me, a disenfranchised youth in her apathetic prime, I felt it was schlocky and saccharine and promptly left her behind for black eyeliner and the Pixies.
I couldn’t feel more differently this time around, however. Her new double album, Leave Your Sleep, is a leap into the sugar-plum fairy domain of kiddie-poetry and folk guitars. And it is wildly successful.
Singing verse written by Jack Prelutsky, Edward Lear and Gerard Manley Hopkins amongst others, makes for a magical ride full of delights for both children and adults. Bleezer’s Ice Cream is sweet and jazzy whilst Peppery Man steals more than one note from traditional blues with deep, blustery males vocals offsetting the sweetness of Merchant’s own. The double album is varied and engaging with more bluegrass, zydeco, folk and blues than you can shake a stick at.
Merchant seems to be growing as an artist whilst at the same time blowing away all the shoddy cobwebby children’s music that is out there. Moreover, she seems to be singing from a place of genuine joy, a fact she confirmed last month when she was interviewed on BBC 6Music. And I for one will be playing this on both my ipod and in my son’s nursery.
Who said happiness makes for rubbish art? Not me.
Desperately seeking Hywel' Moving Castle - an evening with Jonsi at the HMV Forum.
Jonsi saved me. Again.
The evening should have been a disaster of the first order. A manic day shuffling between a press conference hearing the Tory Minister for Culture tell us through smiles that he was cutting funding. Racing to the office. Racing to my son’s potential school. Racing back to pick him up and get dinner on the table. Forgetting mobile as sitter arrived and I dashed out the door. Then arriving at the Forum and realising the person I was meeting there had no idea what I looked like nor I him. Walking up to random men about the right age and asking them if they were Hywel. Cue embarrassment.
Once I’d found him and we’d gotten inside, the opening band, Glasser, an LA-based, Swedish-flavoured outfit mainly peopled by Cameron Mesirow, did little to defray the mania. While Mesirow has a stunning voice, her insular performance and wriggling movements seemed to alienate a love-ready audience. Additionally, the costumes (she in a pink toga and her compatriot for the evening in a black-hooded cloak with shiny white trainers) placed them both in children’s pageant-land (and this done seemingly without intention). What did work was the pulsing electronica merging with her quite singular vocals and I suspect in a different setting (and a different outfit), she may have carried the day.
Jonsi, on the other hand, delivered with bells on. Literally. While he and his support team were also kitted out in macramé and feathers, the blending of this with his outstanding sound and amazing multimedia show was, quite frankly, breathtaking. I was so tired and jaded by half-nine that I truly didn’t think I’d outlast the first intro. But I, and indeed the rest of the audience, were transformed by the power of this performance.
Ranging between definitively alto, Paul Simon-esque, vocals through to a falsetto Jeff Hanson would envy, Jonsi is one of the strongest performers I have ever seen. His own dynamics were matched by the outstanding animation on the distressed box pieces strewn throughout the proscenium (provided and executed by 59 productions and Phil Eddolls) and projected across the 2-storey screen behind him. At times on fire, at times drowning, this animation took what would have been a few pretty songs on a stage and elevated them to a true interaction for the collective us.
Additionally, his rhythm section is nothing short of spectacular. From stringed open piano punctuated by a bow (during “Hengilas”) to taiko drums (“Go Do”), the effect of the wall of sound was transporting. By the time an animated wolf-hunting-deer sequence exploded into a near-silent “Tornado”, I was completely captivated. I can only liken it to being inside of a Japanese film, maybe Howl’s Moving Castle. And as I looked around, we all seemed to be flying at the same speed.
After his short residency on the 26 and 27 May, Jonsi is returning to the UK to play Latitude on July 18th. I can only imagine how spectacular this show will be against a setting sun in a field with a cider in hand. In the words of the man himself, Go Do!
And that brings us to summertime (cue Will Smith). I'm currently sunning myself in the Adirondacks and enjoying a bit of a hiatus from the big lights, big city. I have missed festival season this year (booo) but am choosing to see this as an opportunity to cleanse the musical palette and begin again. Look for more here and hopefully at DMG as well. I'll let you know when we've got our acts together.
Xox tSHw.
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