Sarah Gillespie

“In The Current Climate”

(Pastiche Records PR00001)

Sarah Gillespie’s first recording “Stalking Juliet” (2008) was a striking début that attracted a good deal of critical attention. The singer/guitarist/songwriter’s songs were brought to remarkable life by a band that included maverick arranger and multi instrumentalist Gilad Atzmon. Indeed “Stalking Juliet” was almost as much Atzmon’s album as Gillespie’s, such was the impact of his input.

Atzmon is around again for this much anticipated follow up with bassist Ben Bastin also remaining from the previous album. There is a change in the drum chair with Enzo Zirilli taking over from the departed Asaf Sirkis who has chosen to concentrate on his own trio.

Although Atzmon is still a pivotal figure in the group sound he appears to have taken something of a step backwards on the new recording allowing Gillespie to assert her own very powerful musical personality much more forcefully. Gillespie’s acoustic guitar is given much more prominence in the mix than previously and thus her considerable ability on the instrument becomes increasingly apparent. The sound in general is more pared down and acoustic giving Gillespie’s voice and lyrics greater prominence. She’s a fiercely independent and radical singer and writer, eschewing the clichés of the “chick with a guitar” genre to deliver something far more poetic, political and visceral. Gillespie is a poet, her lyrics inspired by the Beats, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits, and she imbues her words and music with a smouldering, unsettling, almost threatening sexuality. With her occasional glottal stop vocals she’s like a thinking man’s Amy Winehouse.

But Gillespie’s lyrics are far more literary than those of Winehouse, drawing on a wide array of subjects and influences. She’s an exotic creature and the beauty and desperate romance of her words is matched by the quality of the arrangements by musical director Atzmon. Centred around his clarinet and accordion they add colour, nuance and richness to Gillespie’s words. The distinctive Middle Eastern quality of his playing only adds to the air of danger and excitement. Not that the contributions of Bastin and Zirilli should be overlooked, their playing is always apposite, economical or forceful as the music demands and always right on the money. Despite the obvious star qualities of Gillespie and Atzmon this is still a strong group identity and this is very much a quartet record.

All the group’s qualities come together on the opening title track with Atzmon on clarinet tossing in in quotes from Rimsky Korsakof’s “Flight Of The Bumblebee”. Anything goes, as Cole Porter, another influence, might have said.

The dissolute after hours imagery of “Nova Scotia”  is allied to a more full on band sound, reminiscent at times of Gillespie’s début. By contrast the more acoustic “Lucifer’s High Chair” puts the emphasis on Gillespie’s deftly picked guitar and Atzmon’s droning accordion.

Gillespie slips into character for the six minute epic “Sad Lucia”, her guitar now teamed with Atzmon’s clarinet in another largely acoustic arrangement. He is the perfect foil for Gillespie’s guitar, voice and words, shadowing her every inflection perfectly on this sexually charged tale of love and hate.

After a couple of pretty much acoustic episodes “Cinematic Nectar” adds beat box percussion to give a streetwise urban feel to a song that draws heavily on the influence of Tom Waits and the legacy of Kurt Weill.

Politics is never far off the radar when Atzmon is around. “How The West Was Won” is dedicated to Shaker Aamer, the last British prisoner in Camp X Ray. It’s a narrative of a prisoner taken from his homeland and tortured in Guantanamo Bay. Atzmon describes the musical style as an “Arab style shanty”, which is probably a fair description with accordion and biting, incisive clarinet illustrating Gillespie’s disturbing lyrical imagery.

Gillespie’s multi tracked vocals give a sing along quality to “The Bolsheviks And The Alamo” but the lyrics are as rich and provocative as ever.

“I Forget To Get Off Trains” is disarmingly simple by Gillespie standards, the lyrics have a haiku like simplicity but she and Atzmon, here again on clarinet invest them with a powerful emotional impact.

“Spinning Lines” is bright, almost jaunty, with a memorable chorus. Led by Gillespie’s nimble finger picking the arrangement includes a couple of typically mercurial Atzmon clarinet solos as Zirilli’s subtly propulsive drumming drives the song along nicely.

The closing “Junk Food Angel” is Gillespie’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” or “The End Of The World As We Know It” full of dense, quick-fire, tongue twisting lyrics in which she takes a pop at the all encroaching influence of the media among other things. More beat box sounds, sing along chorus vocals and some deliciously wigged out clarinet ensure that the album ends on a fun note. It’ll be interesting to see if she attempts this live-at the time of writing the quartet are on an extensive UK tour. I hope to catch their date in Abergavenny and to report on this very soon.

“In The Current Climate” is less hook laden and immediately accessible than its predecessor. However it’s obvious that Gillespie and Atzmon have not attempted to merely reprise the first album but have decided instead to offer something different. On the whole the more acoustic approach works very well with Gillsepie’s strength as a player much more obvious. Not that there’s any shortage of colour in the music, Atzmon’s arrangements in this context are as imaginative as ever despite him taking a slight step into the background.

I’ve not analysed Gillespie’s lyrics in too much detail. She uses words like Dylan and Waits to produce great lyrical images, it’s not just about pure narrative sense. Gillespie’s colourful, globe trotting lyrics invite different interpretations and I’d recommend potential purchasers to listen to and read them for yourselves. There’s some strikingly colourful poetic imagery on both her albums.

If pushed I still prefer the hookier, bigger sound of “Stalking Juliet” but Current Climate” is a fine record in its own right and offers a significant change of direction. Sarah Gillespie is one of the most interesting song based performers around at the moment and well worth seeking out.   

 

 

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