Jane Weaver at Chalk, Brighton - Review

The Liverpudlian is currently touring her latest album - Flock - and there was a real sense in her live performance that the singer-songwriter is riding the crest of her artistic prime.

The intimate setting and small audience of middle aged people at Chalk perfectly suited Weaver's laidback stage presence, as she casually walked around the stand throughout the night and told witty one-liners in between songs like a veteran comedian doing the club circuit.

While her character and the audience suited each other perfectly, the main talking point of the show was the strength of her latest songs in a live setting.

Read the preview to the show here The set opened with four songs from Flock - Pyramid Schemes, Heartflow, The Revolution of Super Visions and Stages of Phases. Each song brought a different version of Weaver's cosmic pop into the room, drifting from smooth spaced-out sympathizers and minimalist beats, to fuzzy funk sounding guitars and groove-heavy baselines.

The blue lightning which bathed Jane and her band throughout added to this other-worldly vibe, with Weaver's vocals transfixing the crowd like a Siren lying on the rocks of Scylla.

The 50-year-old also dived into her recent back catalogue with 2017 singles Modern Kosmology, I Wish and Slow Motion highlighting Weaver's progression into Electronica soundings records from her acoustic beginnings at the start of the twentieth century.

Midway through the show, Weaver revealed that her band had played Brighton as many as they had Manchester, performing in the Sussex city at least eight times, the popstar said.

Mission Desire from Weaver's 2016 record Silver Globe continued the dreamy electro sound of the middle portion of the show. And was followed soon after by the catchy tunes Solarised and Sunset Dreams.

The final three songs of the set highlighted Weaver's quality of work since 2016. The Caribbean-feeling Don't Take My Soul was followed by the Glam Rock inspired Don't Tell Me I'm Wrong, both of which contained numerous fascinating sounds from each member of the four-piece band, with the singer's angelic vocals places perfectly on top of the music.

Weaver closed the show with the fan-favourite I Need A Connection, and the Brighton audience left the venue having just witnessed the singer-songwriter performing in her prime, 30 years after she first burst onto the scene with her Britpop band Kill Laura.