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Jane Weaver at Oslo, gig review: This is the sound of an artist at the peak of their powers

No matter how multi-layered the music becomes, she floats above it to add melody at every turn

Shaun Curran
Friday 23 October 2015 14:15 BST
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Such has been the upturn in Jane Weaver’s fortunes this year that when she archly apologises to Oslo’s sold out crowd for the failure of her wondrous sixth album The Silver Globe to land a Mercury Prize nomination, she does so with a genuine sense of injustice rather than a flight of fancy.

After nearly 20 years on the peripheries of Manchester’s independent scene, that such an accolade is even on Weaver’s radar is remarkable, but she has a daring artistic reinvention to thank: her metamorphosis from starry-eyed folkie to full on space rock adventurer on The Silver Globe has been astounding, and tonight we experience the interstellar trip in all its psychedelic marvel.

The impellent krautrock of Argent sets the tone for show that, with the aid of a meticulous four-piece band, travels its cosmic course via from synthpop (Don’t Take My Soul) space rock (The Electric Mountain) and celestial beauty (Cells).

What threads it all together is Weaver herself: no matter how multi-layered the music becomes, she floats above it to add melody at every turn, all delivered in her affecting, at-the-break-of-dawn coo.

Mercury nomination or not, this is the sound of an artist at the peak of their powers.

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