Jagwar Ma have been said to sound as though they could have existed in Manchester in the late 80’s.
They have been described as psychedelia for 2013 and have been thrown into the mixer with other 21st century psychedelic practitioners like Tame Impala and Temples. Oh, and Noel Gallagher likes them as well.
The Deaf Institute plays host to the Australian three-piece tonight and it seems to be the perfect venue for such a gig. Small and intimate with a balcony around three quarters of the room giving the illusion that we could be at some sort of 1960’s ‘happening’ involving early Pink Floyd or the Velvet Underground.
It is definitely not mid-60’s style psychedelia that Jagwar Ma produce however and they are certainly more aligned to the ‘Second Summer of Love’ rather than the first. In simple terms, they are the Hacienda rather than the UFO club. Screamadelica rather than Sgt. Pepper.
The evening begins with a DJ set from producer Jono Ma but disappointingly, the set does little to excite the audience. The feel is too laid back, too sedate and too self-indulgent.
Jagwar Ma begin their set with What Love? which is, musically at least, reminiscent of The Stone Roses long drawn out Breaking Into Heaven introduction on The Second Coming. The track carries a bongo loop that would not sound out of place on the Apocalypse Now soundtrack as it conjures up images of Martin Sheen wading through Saigon out of his mind on lord only knows what.
Possibly not the feel that Jagwar Ma were going for, but it does sound like this all the same. What Love? eventually builds into a full-on baggy number with an insane drumbeat that is not too dissimilar to that of Wrote For Luck by The Happy Mondays.
Jagwar Ma Sound exciting but their presence on stage does not really inspire tonight’s audience. Their line-up consists of Jono Ma operating tape loops from a couple of laptops, Jack Freeman on bass, and Gabriel Winterfield on both vocals and guitar.
Maybe the omission of a live drummer is the reason behind Jagwar Ma not connecting fully with its audience or maybe it is just their on-stage demeanor in general. What ever the answer, there is definitely something missing.
With The Deaf Institute being a small venue this is not such a big deal but as the summer’s festivals arrive (an environment in which their music should flourish), it is feasible that Jagwar Ma will not show their true potential due to a lack of stage presence.
They follow What Love? with current BBC 6 Music favourite Man I Need, which, like on the album Howlin’ segues into Exercise. Man I Need quickly grabs the audiences’ attention with it being their current single but again a few questions are thrown up.
Singer Gabriel Winterfield is obviously double-tracking his vocals live. This is evident to everyone as his voice can still be heard after he has left his microphone. The jury may be out on whether or not this is acceptable at a live gig, but fans of live music and its very principle, must surely take issue.
Vocal debates aside, Come Save Me creates some genuine excitement and you cannot help wonder whether the reaction to Jagwar Ma would be completely different had this gig been on a weekend.
Maybe they would have received a better response and in turn may have engaged more with their audience.
Closing number The Throw should be whipping the audience into a frenzy but sadly, it is not. It seems to be the case that Jagwar Ma have an interesting sounding album but live something is lacking.
Maybe too much of their live-set is pre-recorded. Maybe people like to watch a live drummer. Maybe tonight was just the wrong kind of night.
Or maybe it was all of the above.
Image courtesy of Marathon Artists via YouTube, with thanks.
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