{"id":599,"date":"2015-09-09T18:07:21","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T17:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shindig-magazine.com\/?p=599"},"modified":"2025-01-13T17:45:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T17:45:25","slug":"jessica-pratt-london-bush-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=599","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Pratt \u2013 London, Bush Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Presley discovery shines.<\/b>
\nLondon Bush Hall, 08\/09\/2015<\/p>\n

In the illustrious settings of this prestigious venue – \u201cSo this used to be a bingo hall? That’s cool\u201d \u2013 Jessica Pratt draws the crowd into the palm of her hand, tapping into the intimate surroundings and grandeur with her world of dimly lit, chanson-like charm. After an initial technical difficulty, the performance starts with \u2018Wrong Hand\u2019, the opening statement on her latest album On Your Own Love Again<\/i>. Her voice tonight is sparkling yet lugubrious \u2013 like the sigh at the end of a twilight night when considering a day\u2019s passing. This is despite Pratt later admitting that \u201c\u2026I\u2019m a little bit ill right now\u201d. \u2018Greycedes\u2019 also has a similar quality; the aural equivalent of staring into the middle distance whilst in love and trying to ignore the inevitable parting to follow.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s clear tonight is that Pratt\u2019s songs have a tranquil and entrancing presence that is significantly enhanced here beyond their recorded counterparts. The lack of harmony vocals in the live setting only serves to reinforce her main vocal line, giving greater significance to the lyrics, whilst the interplay between Pratt and accompanying guitarist Cyrus Gengras revels in the fragility of the songs themselves. \u2018Games That I Play\u2019 gleams and bewitches the audience whilst \u2018Jacquelyn in the Background\u2019 retains the slight uplift in pitch at the tail end that, on the album, gives the impression that someone\u2019s accidentally nudged the varispeed controls on the recording console. \u2018Back, Baby\u2019 has the crowd indulge in an impromptu singing of the opening line with Pratt (\u2018Sometimes I Pray For The Rain\u2019).<\/p>\n

An exquisite reading of the song that started it all \u2018Night Faces\u2019 (from her initial demo-drawn debut) still feels like a long lost response to David Crosby and the Laurel Canyon community. \u2018Strange Melody\u2019 is another highlight; a rumination on truth and loss only heightened by the sparse instrumentation and spectral quality of its rendition here.<\/p>\n

An encore of \u2018Titles Under Pressure\u2019 and \u2018Fortuna\u2019 brings the performance to a close and it\u2019s hard to argue with Pratt\u2019s own assessment of her visit; \u201cI\u2019ve played here (London) three times and it\u2019s always been special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc Le Breton<\/b><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Presley discovery shines. London Bush Hall, 08\/09\/2015 In the illustrious settings of this prestigious venue – \u201cSo this used to be a bingo hall? That’s cool\u201d \u2013 Jessica Pratt draws the crowd into the palm of her hand, tapping into the intimate surroundings and grandeur with her world of dimly lit, chanson-like charm. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-jessica-pratt"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}