Liz Green/ Homelife/ Denis Jones: Passion, drama, knitting

Downstairs @ The Kings Head
20 November 2009

A home-made pack of Liz Green CD's that I bought at a show in February. Nice, you may think, but what of it? All will become clear.

I usually try not to describe acts by making comparisons to others, unless it's a key point of reference. So:

Denis Jones could be described as Magic Arm's slightly wonky older brother, who has been through a few things but has emerged smiling, more or less, the other side, and has kicked the habit but still sees the crew from time to time, and has a restless need to pursue the next sound, the next rhythm, the next tune, to which end he has refined his guitar, looping and processing skills to such an extent that it really seems he can call into being the exact tone or rhythm he is looking for without a pause, and when he finds it he turns it into surprisingly soulful songs that speak of something entirely other than a pub basement in Crouch End. There is a new album cooking, look out for it.

Homelife could be described as sounding like a nasal Glenn Tillbrook if he forgot how to write good songs*, with seriously grating unsupported tenor vocals and a lamentable fondness for 1970's synth sounds. Ye gods! Although if they chose to work with a decent singer then it could be quite a different matter.

Liz Green, I have finally realised, sounds like a scratchy 78rpm blues record, all covered in dust so you can't tell if the vibrato in her voice is due to the age of the recording or is there on purpose. It's a mesmerising sound, her voice has an amazing, stylized, rich timbre and she generally sings about death and destruction which is a good use for a nice voice. When I have seen her play before she has been a bit bolshy, this time she was rather shy and uncertain and maybe a bit more open - perhaps the bolshiness came from not having the confidence to relax, and maybe she is now on the way there; making your own pigeon head mask to wear when singing about pigeons would suggest that day is at hand. Final encore was a cover of Antony's Hope There's Someone which was quite literally fantastic, and for the first time that voice was really used properly, not just in the stylized 'Liz Green' way, a real pleasure at the last.

* I'm talking about 30 years ago