jeudi 9 décembre 2010

Ms Jones @ Café de Paris, 28.11.10

*originally posted on thegirlsare
 
 
Just down the road from the famed Nouveau Casino, Café de Paris is nestled amongst the heart of this capital’s café culture. Head towards the dimly lit back room and a haughty old theatre stage, with some strategically placed ambient lighting and the benefits of an original stained glass ceiling, is transformed into the perfect setting to immerse oneself in a sea of sombre sound waves.

You won’t find much on Ms Jones if you look her up online. Her Myspace is sparse with only mere song samples to go on and no Wikipedia account in her honour either (a resource so easily used as an, albeit not entirely accurate, preface to a band nowadays) Yet, perhaps, this is Ms Jones‘ intention and simply the only elements she needs rather than some crudely constructed online biography like so many of her peers.

Her approach is raw and sometimes a little unconventional (with some eccentric tuning towards the end of the set) yet there is something endearing about the way she exposes herself so wholly and vividly to tonight’s audience. Like Kristin Hersch‘s  haunting opening chords and timid bleats upon the track Sno Cat, the sadness in the room is palpable.

However, for a reviewer that’s more of a wild cat than a sno cat, the performance is ultimately a little bleak; the fragility in her singing is, at times, almost too painful to watch. There are some impressive collaborations though during the set with both friend, Phillip Lamb and fellow performer on the bill tonight, Richard Robert who, as an aside, is a remarkably talented guitar player and linguist – entertaining us with songs in three different languages, no less!

Perhaps, someone should pen that Wikipedia page for Ms Jones after all, if for nothing more than to build upon the bones of this stripped bare songstress. A fan of Hirsh’s delicate discordance and Patti Smith‘s more tender testaments? This petite françaises quivering anguish is certainly for you.

Listen for yourself, here :
www.myspace.com/heloisesque

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