Servant Jazz Quarters, Dalston
“Does anyone have any questions?”
The perpetual offering from Alex Ounsworth resonates through tonight’s intimate jazz club in Dalston. Amidst the basement room, we’re invited to lean further in, propose questions and seek further connection to the singer-songwriter’s rewired outpouring birthed from his accompanying piano.
Solo tours have never been an easy feat for those severing the cord from their estranged brethren, eager to venture forwards themselves. Many can easily succumb to triteness, dullness, and a surefire way for a cheap buck, conveniently able to rely on a ‘Greatest Hits’ tour. For Ounsworth’s band, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the melancholic refrains of 30-odd year prior weigh heavier this evening, consumed by the piano’s graceful sleight-of-hand in a welcomed turn-of-events.
A Lou Reed, downtrodden-assuredness captivates our opening into the band’s 2005 breakout LP by virtue of ‘Details of the War’ and ‘In This Home on Ice’, scratching the higher register of Ounsworth’s vocal range, pitted against such melancholic storytelling (“You say I’m hurt, I’ll take your word”). For the excavation of this LP galvanises the greatest attention tonight, evidently earmarked by many at the time when lo-fi indie loomed large, particularly attributed to their breakout hit ‘The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth’. Where was once offered a youthful, dance-fed exuberance amongst those years, now is re-gifted to us with a more intimate, restrained offering this evening for the aged audience.
Whilst the group's older material deems, in moments, incongruous with tonight’s intimate surroundings, their more recent work seamlessly transitions itself into this calmer aura - superbly poised upon the frailty pertaining ‘Ambulance Chaser’, gripping the attentive audience rooted firmly in their places. Here, Ounsworth sumptuously crashes onto such disdainful notes at each given chorus (“Ambulance Chaser / Running down an injury / You're all I'll ever really need”), equally afflicted within 2017’s ‘Better Off’ which transcends toward a delicate crescendo stuck beneath such repetitively admonishing lines which consume like break-neck waves (“You’re gonna find someone who’ll love you like he should have”).
The transformation undertaken tonight, between the myriad layers of indie-folk and dance-fuelled rhythms of yesteryear, allowed an intriguing makeover - deconstructed by the downbeat and emotional nouse of Alec Ounsworth. Part-concert/part Q&A, the set contained a sparse realism throughout, intermittently checking-in with the crowd to gauge the current mood, answer any questions and provide light humour to an otherwise sullen night. Perhaps the set’s closer, ‘Upon this Tidal Wave’ best encapsulated the overriding setback for tonight’s chosen spot: forever at odds with the uptempo rhythms which once pressed forth their music. For now, Ounsworth has suitably rewired himself to a different mood, aura and age; uniquely showcased for a more settled audience looking for a mature, transparent take on life.
7/10
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's latest EP, Piano & Voice, is out now and can be found below.
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