The Goo 1
Reviews Live Reviews Jane Weaver Whelans This was
for me a long overdue encounter with one of my favourite artists. Jane Weaver has been doling out stellar album after album for years now, packaging up a bit of Krautrock, a touch of psych and a dollop of electronic in remarkably accessible, alternative releases. A magical voice twined with a wonderfully creative mind, yielding endless entertainment. Jane opens with ‘Quantify’ a driving krautrock number from her recent RSD 7”. ‘Perfect Storm’ is the grooving opener from her touring album Love in Constant Spectacle the first of eight such tracks. Happy to chat Jane confides “This is the 13 th show of our tour, you know it’s fine because when I was sat, over the way, at bar, outside before, a pigeon pooped all over me and as my nana would say ‘muck for luck’! So it’s all gonna be fine coz they cancel each other out”. The album title track has the stellar psych outro extended for the live environment. ‘Heartflow’ is amazing, Jane’s voice soars across the crowd while the analogue synths resonate. Latest single ‘Is Metal’ is a psych masterclass. ‘Slow Motions’ goes down so well one crowd member asks them to do it again. ‘Family of the Sun’ captures the audience with its Stereolab repetition and gearchange. The best is left till last. A near 10min version of ‘I Need a Connection’ channelling a ‘90s era crossover combination of The Chemical Brothers and Sarah Cracknell. It’s stunning like everything about the evening. A truly euphoric ending to a special night. DC Faye Webster The Button Factory This was the first of two sold out shows for Faye Webster's Dublin debut. The second was ‘upgraded’ to Vicar St. so I was especially fortunate to attend the ‘more intimate’ of the two. I must admit I was a little late to the Faye Webster following as this is the tour of her fifth album Underdressed at the Symphony which I recently reviewed for our sister publication Totally Dublin. I was drawn to the label Secretly Canadian and further drawn in by the delights I heard within. ‘But Not Kiss’ was the dramatic opener on the night and the lead single from the latest album. Stylistically its very like Stina Nordenstam balancing an almost fragile quiet with the drive and punch of the “yeah, yeah” counter lyric. Perhaps most DAVID CARR/ BARRA CARLIN / BILLY O’HANLUAIN / ADHAMH O’CAOIMH extraordinary though is the massive vintage bust of Faye which dominates the stage, complete with flashing eyes. There’s something of the Spinal Tap monolith about it and I frankly can’t conceive how they’re managing to shift it about, especially when Faye admits “we took a ferry and a bus and a car to get here”. Her 16-track set is drawn entirely from her last three albums. I was probably at odds with the audience in being most enchanted by her latest offerings which draw on jazz and soul and would be a candidate for a Ronny Scott’s performance, but the older numbers drew phones out and a massive singalong. Either way all factions of her army would have left on a high. DC Urne/Uragh/LaVei The Academy JANE WEAVER AT WHELANS Amongst the angriest of acts bands I’ve seen of late, LaVein opened to a packed Academy with a rare ferocity, and fury felt in every note. Playing a mix of material old and new, the band closed out a sterling set with “Your Hate is Not Ours,” an anthem against racism, soundly establishing the extremity to follow for the duration of the night. Prog-Metal overlords Uragh, fresh off the release of their astonishing ‘Maelstrom’ debut, kept up the energy with a relentless onslaught of precision guitars, throbbing bass and barrages of doublekick , yet unafraid to explore quieter, melodic introspections in songs like ‘Capsize’, before rekindling their sonic assault. Following either of these acts is no easy mission, though Urne proved equal to the task. Expertly balancing blasts of blackened heft with swathes of groove laden song structures PAGE 16