Clementine wandering over to Sage
ALAN NICHOL HAS THE LATEST NEWS ON THE ROOTS MUSIC SCENE IN THE REGION
LONDON-BORN Benjamin Clementine arrives at Sage Gateshead (Hall 1) for the penultimate show on his short UK excursion he has called The Wandering Tour.
It is almost exactly two years since he made his debut in the smaller Hall 2 – supported by his drummer – which was just days after the announcement of his Mercury Prize success for his album, At Least For Now.
That album also gained him the accolade Best New Act in France where Clementine had spent several post-school years, often struggling to make ends meet, perfecting his art.
Those years will seem like a long time ago given the glowing praise and widespread exposure – with front page of the New York Times (in an interview with David Byrne), for example – he has received since the release of that breakthrough album.
The interview with Byrne would appear to be a perfect fit given the fact that they are both so difficult to categorise, simply following the muse wherever it takes them.
Clementine’s new album, I Tell A Fly, was, in part at least, prompted by a rather mundane event. On his American visa he was described as ‘an alien of extraordinary abilities.’
He later revisited that experience and explained: “I was baffled for about 10 minutes when I first saw that visa. But then I thought to myself, I am an alien. I’m a wanderer. In most places I’ve been, I’ve always been different.
“And so I began to think about the story of a couple of birds (or flies), who are in love: one is afraid to go further, and the other is taking a risk, to see what happens.”
What happens is he manages to fashion a singular sound – there really is no-one else like him – from inspirations as scattered as Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, Jake Thackray, Jimi Hendrix and Aretha Franklin to classical composers like Claude Debussy and Erik Satie. There is also a hint of Rufus Wainwright in there. That’s quite a stretch for anyone!
He is a multi-instrumentalist but uses the piano primarily. The full-ranged voice, however, is the unique instrument and it is immediately recognisable. He pours the entire contents of his soul into his work and the result is poetic, strident, subtle, humorous, melancholy and much more besides but always driven by, to listener at least, his own experiences whether happy, sad or plain. A riveting performer.
The night before, in Sage Gateshead Hall 2, there is a show which will cover, via live music and film, the history of reggae music in the UK. The historical tour will be conducted by Dennis Bovell. The celebrated guitarist/bassist Bovell was actually born in Barbados (not Jamaica, where the music originated) but he has been central to the form since the 1970s, after growing-up in London.
Sometimes known as Blackbeard, he worked with Linton Kwesi Johnson, has been a prolific solo artist, producer, founder of the band Matumbi and collaborator on numerous reggae, dub and post-punk projects.
It was Bovell who coined the term ‘lover’s rock’ – primarily for his song, Silly Games, which was a hit for Janet Kay. Bovell has toured with any number of reggae acts (Ken Boothe, Yellowman, etc); produced albums for nonreggae artists like Bananarama, Thompson Twins, Fela Kuti, Madness and Orange Juice; written music for TV drama.
He played a key role in the BBC TV production, Regga Britannia. On the night he will play music with his band – billed as Dennis Bovell and Friends – with film footage from across the years to enhance the experience.
For fans of folk-inclined music there are a couple of gigs, both in Sage Gateshead, to look-out for. Tonight, the Australian-born but UK-based Emily Barker plays in Hall 2 and brings material from her latest album, Sweet Kind Of Blue.
Barker covers folk/country territory and has released close to a dozen albums in various formats, many of which have been chosen for special critical acclaim in the music press and beyond.
She recorded the new album in Sam Phillips’s old Sun Records studio in Memphis and the title track, at least, has an appropriately soul-laden instrumentation with swirling organ prominent in the mix.
Opening the show, in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall, is the London-based singer/ songwriter/guitarist, Pete Roe. He is a former member of Laura Marling’s band and has toured with Mumford and Sons, Ben Howard, Willy Mason and Lucy Rose among others.
Next Wednesday, in Hall 2 this time, the Scots/Anglo trio, Lau, hold court. The threesome – Kris Drever (guitar, vocals), Martin Green (accordion, piano, electronics) and Aidan O’Rourke (fiddle) – are a formidable live act and come to the venue with a recently released compilation album, Decade, which, you may well have deduced, covers the 10 years since their debut album, Lightweights and Gentlemen.
The band won the Best Group category in the BBC Folk Awards three times in a row between from 2008.
Thursday night could well be described as Ladies Day. The Black Swan in Westgate Road has a visit from the wonderfully gifted singer/ cellist/pianist, Ayanna Witter Johnson. Although she is often billed as a jazz act, she has described herself as ‘orchestral/R’n’B’ which seems a fairly accurate way to cover the range of her material.
She is a classy performer, a talent which has seen her work with Anoushka Shankar, Nitin Sawhney, Courtney Pine’s Afropeans, and pianist Robert Mitchell. Forget the descriptors, Witter Johnson can do it all.
Back at Sage Gateshead, Hall 1 features the combined forces of Ward Thomas with support coming from the female trio, Wildwood Kin. The Hampshire crossover-country duo, Catherine and Lizzie Ward Thomas, have been responsible, along with The Shires, for igniting the UK country music scene.
The pair (and their band) have made a huge impression with their two albums to date, From Where We Stand (2014) and the more successful, Cartwheels, last year. The latter topped the album chart here.
Devon trio, Wildwood Kin – sisters Emillie and Beth Key plus cousin Meghann Loney – were here last December with Seth Lakeman and have since been as Bob Harris’s Emerging Artist of the Year for 2017.