Music review: Jessie Ware

Jessie Ware was down to earth and never overstated

JESSIE Ware first came to general notice through her collaborations and associations with trendy electronica types James Blake, SBTRKT and Sampha, but there is a classy, old school undertone to her solo material with shades of the 80s pop soul divas Sade and Lisa Stansfield. On this first date of her latest tour, she also revealed the local influence of The Blue Nile, whose Paul Buchanan guested on her new album, Glasshouse, and some of the conventionality of Emeli Sande on her more booming pop productions.

Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow ***

Her set fell somewhere in between the moody soundscapes of the former and the forced love metaphors of the latter. “I wanna be your domino”, she declared, whatever that might involve, on a typically polished and pacey number. There was a distinct whiff of the chardonnay about her polite wine bar fare, though her capable band got a little more worked up on Running without quite breaking sweat.

Ware herself was a fun, down-to-earth presence, clearly enjoying her interactions with the enthusiastic crowd. She also sang with a powerful pleasing directness, devoid of affectation or theatricality, but also capable of lending a hypnotic subtlety to smooth soul mantra No To Love, the clubby drum’n’bass track 110% and mellow pastoral soul of Til The End.

Nothing was overstated, not even the big encore hit Wildest Moments; instead, there was a quietly confident dynamism to her recent single Midnight with its ethereal, rapturous verse giving way to a stomping chorus.

FIONA SHEPHERD