Jade gets brighter colours with Purcell… Operatic
The first chance to hear Jade Like The Stone with a full band, (well, with a band that isn’t Du Bellows… or at least not entirely Du Bellows) wasn’t something Plunger were going to miss, so we skipped the big name bill-topper in Highbury and tubed it south.
With a running theme of “my musical history and goddesses” and a rolling line-up of accompanying musicians, this was a different atmosphere to the usual JLTS shows, as proved by Jack And His Queen with Jade accompanied only by London-based Australian singer (and designer of many of Jade’s hippy/tribal accessories) Vera Black. Dramatic piano overlaid with Jade’s keening vox, and eerie, shifting minor-to-major harmonies provided a spine-tingling opener.
Joined by Du Bellows bandmates David Watkinson (using rods to temper his normal power!) and Richard Leeds on mellowcaster and bvs, the now four-piece gave a more dreamy Haight Ashbury take on DB favourite Particles: simple guitar lines and heartbeat pulse percussion backing fantastic three-part harmonies; Jade’s urgent closing imprecation building over the growing swell of drum and guitar. A line-up change swapped David for guest guitarist Andy Z for the Stones’ Dead Flowers: Richard’s jangly guitar and more thrilling three-voice Laurel Canyon harmonies giving a stripped-back country feel.
Jade’s operatic training and inclination (already apparent in the two-voice opener) was centre stage for her rendition of part of Henry Purcell’s When I Am Laid In Earth (a.k.a. Dido’s Lament). An introductory snatch of recitative was followed by a stunning vocal display: her breathy low register rising in pitch and intensity as the emotion built before subsiding to a closing whisper. Bluesy 7ths from Richard’s guitar wouldn’t have been Plunger’s first choice for sole backing (rather than say an effects-laden cello-like ground bass) but still spellbinding, reducing the room to complete breathless silence.
A nifty nip across to the piano allowed for a smooth segue into Jade’s own lament against the dying of the light Young Thing. With David’s relaxed reined-in beat and minimalist guitar Jade ranged from hushed tones to impassioned vibrato, from Nicksian seductive drawl to haunting soaring lines, her final lung-busting belt melting to nothing. Pared-down drums and pure-toned guitar formed the backdrop for the piano-led reverie of Lightning, its Bush-like ethereal lyricism delivered with crystal clarity climaxing in a powerful sustained siren-song finale.
Happiness, performed (as written) solo on autoharp, was no less powerful: the chiming chords and vibrato-laden defiance and melancholic delicacy turned the country blues of the band version into a Waterhouse-painted hillside threnody. A new song, Heavy, broke the celtic enchantment with its punchy late-Mac West Coast vibe. Choppy rhythms from guitar (including a returned Andy) and drums driving a rockier-edged vox before a clever detour into a major key waltz and back preceded Jade’s blistering gritty screams and a stylish dead stop.
The set closed with a deliciously dangerous Think It Over: folky autoharp lending a vintage 60s chill, the growing sense of menace enhanced by David’s ineluctable advancing drumbeat and Richard’s sinister lower register phrases, peaking in gooseflesh-raising Lakme-esque harmonies and counterpoint from Jade and Vera.
A bewitchingly different set, drawing on a wide palette of influences and styles: more than justifying skipping the Highbury headliners!
