Bill Ryder-Jones
The Lexington, London
May 8
★★★
BILL RYDER-JONES is one of those musicians whose work seems destined to be well-received in whichever direction it goes. So far at least.
He’s a bit like a Liverpudlian Jack White or a northern Thom Yorke. And everyone likes The Coral, the band he played lead guitar with from the mid-90s until 2008, don’t they?
Ryder-Jones left the Merseyside band to go solo, composing film scores and collaborating with the likes of Alex Turner and Paloma Faith, as well as releasing an experimental orchestral album, 2011’s If…, an adaptation based on Italo Calvino’s 1979 novel If on a Winters Night a Traveler.
Tonight his start is fairly low-key. The narrow stage upstairs at The Lexington pub in Angel is bathed in blue light as Jones walks on in plane attire. His band in tow, Jones sniffles and tells some overly-boisterous girls in the front row to be quiet and listen. Clearly the show will be played on Bill’s terms.
The sell-out crowd won’t be treated to any Coral songs or an encore this evening. Instead, the guitarist-come-frontman creates intimacy and atmosphere through tracks from his new record A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart; from a haunting rendition of Hanging Song, which Jones performs solo on the keys, to the LP’s first single, the ambient He Took You In His Arms, to the more riff-heavy lead on You’re Getting Like Your Sister.
The songs during his 50-minute set, tender and sombre reflections on his past, may not sound lyrically ground-breaking, but the atmosphere builds through harmonium and drum rhythms which sound like waves crashing slowly on the coast.
His stripped-back approach is channelled through small VOX and Orange amps. They may not burst any ear drums tonight but are well-suited to the surrounds.
After a rendition of Wild Swans, the band exits as Jones plays a slower, strummed electric song before introducing his band back on stage one by one. Perhaps influenced by his interest in film composition, his smooth voice crackles like an old movie as he plays out an emotive finish through the title track to his latest LP, A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart. James Martin
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