Josienne Clarke, Across the Evening Sky, Kings Place review - celebrating Sandy Denny

On the first date of a 17-concert tour that had its preview at Celtic Connections in January, Across the Evening Sky begins with the liminal, predatory dangers of associating in any way with the sly “Reynardine”, with Matt Robinson on piano and electronic keyboards and Alec Bowman-Clarke’s bass evoking the twilit murk of the magical faerie song, recorded by Sandy on Fairport’s Liege & Lief.

From that opening performance, Clarke had the room, the charm was cast, her own distinctive voice and stylings merging with Sandy’s originals – filling the vessel but in doing so assuming her own shape too.

Throughout the 80-minute set, she spoke with depth and feeling about a singer to whom she has often been compared, quietly expanding on her influence, and the enduring magic and nature of her music. Clarke’s Sandy is an outlier who sits outside the ordinary classifications of folk, jazz, or song, and whose songs exist outside of time, too.

She spoke of anxiety dreams while putting this tribute show together, seeing herself as ‘this small women’ attempting to encompass Denny’s enormous songs, but there was no imposter on stage at the Kings Place on Saturday. She and her band captivated a full house in Hall One with the torch song flare she brings to the likes of “Solo”, “At the End of the Day”, “It’ll Take a Long Time” and a stunning “Just An Old Fashioned Waltz”, which was the second song of the set. After the music faded away she held a long pause then said: “That’s the best song ever written, and so we can all go home now, and I can give up trying to write songs.”.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen. She likens her inhabiting of Sandy Denny’s songs to finding a fabulous vintage sheepskin coat that just fits perfectly the minute you try it on, as if it was made for you. Elegant in a long black dress, rather than sheepskin, her performance was joyous, focused, intense. The real deal – a unique contemporary talent stepping up to meet one of the greatest of Britain’s singers and songwriters. And despite the last-minute, Covid-related absence of guitarist Lukas Drinkwater – or perhaps because of that absence – there was a minimalist intensity and focus to the music interplay around Clarke’s vocals between drummer Dave Hamblett, Bowman-Clarke and Robinson.

There’s a powerful chiaroscuro torch-song expressionism in her voice and performance, and she performs the hell out of these songs, expressing in movement as well as voice the feeling and character and subtleties of each song, their points of tension and release. “Matty Groves” comes at a pace, its narrative of illicit lovers, high and low born, resting in bed as death looms over them as sharply delineated as a torch in a suspect’s face in a classic Film Noir.

The full house demonstrated the level of love for Denny’s work, and the respect for Clarke’s own songs and persona. Together, they are a formidable force of nature and culture across a show of amazing songs. After an encore of the one that had to be played – “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” – she and her band left the stage to a full standing ovation. The tour extends until June, which is where time goes. So you have time to catch this show before it goes.

• Tour dates for Across the Evening Sky on Josienne Clarke's website
• More New Music reviews on theartsdesk
• Tim Cumming's website

@CummingTim