Cold Specks @ LEAF

TONIGHT a candlelit Leaf is given an intimate jazz club feel with most of tonights audience sat round tables or chilling on Chesterfields sipping wine or espresso.

Neville Skelly - New material

NEVILLE SKELLY opens proceedings looking decidedly casual in jeans, leather jacket and a beanie hat, yet there is nothing casual about his performance.

Going solo tonight he treats the crowd to some new material, which highlight a more troubadour folk direction, reminiscent of JOHN MARTYN and at times TIM BUCKLEY.

The Love You Gave is the standout track of a short but sweet set, his honeyed murmurings are soft yet powerful, his brow constantly furrowed as he pours his heart and soul into his craft.

Richard Warren - apocalyptic blues

Memphis influenced RICHARD WARREN is up next, and an intensely lit stage sets the tone for a grim apocalyptic display that rumbles along but ultimately fails to impress.

Warren’s records show good potential, but his stage persona and show lacks imagination, failing to find the spark that will bring his stories to life.

He shows some finesse with both guitar and harmonica, particularly when he switches to electric, but it misses accompaniment, not strong enough to hold its own alone.

COLD SPECKS open with solo vocal number The Mark, which offers a first exquisite taste of the unique vocal talent that is singer Al Spx.

She is both powerful and gently soothing all at once, her husky tones comparable with JANIS JOPLIN and NINA SIMONE, yet still entirely her own.

She is a shy presence on stage, but gives a sweet and genuine smile after each song, and even cracks a joke that is actually funny ("Two cannibals are eating a clown one day. One cannibal turns to the others and says, does this taste funny to you?").

If she remarkable the band too are impressively talented bunch.

All Flesh Is Grass and Blank Maps show the subtle and skilled instrumentation of cello, keys, sax, electric guitar and drums, all honed to melt beautifully into Spx’s stunning vocal.

For want of a better genre title, this unique blend has been championed as ‘Doom Soul’, and the subject matter is indeed blunt and often apocalyptic, reflecting on death at every turn.

Heavy Hands is a slow builder that steers from delicate to powerful gradually, like the swelling of a tidal wave that then breaks and washes over your senses.

Recent single Holland is simplistic in message and delivery, poignantly reflecting on how we all return to dust.

The uncomplicated and perfectly crafted nature of this music makes it so emphatic that it is impossible to ignore it.

What is impossible to ignore however is the increasing intrusion from Leaf’s ground floor, where DJ’s entertain its non gig-going throng.

It is a shame, as despite promoter HARVEST SUN’s persistent attempts to quell the bass-heavy beats filtering up the stairs, the intimacy being created between this thrilling group and its captivated audience is occasionally ruined.

It is particularly noticeable on their final two numbers Lay Me Down and Old Stepstone.

The former is simply guitar and voice in beautiful tandem before being joined by sax and cello and haunting backing vocal for a chilling finale.

Old Stepstone simply shows the power, emotion and raw passion that can be found in the human voice.

Thankfully it would have taken more than some thumping bass to spoil what is an incredible performance, and as they make their way from the stage and through the crowd, they are cheered and applauded all the way.