Where to begin?
Usually at PAS, some sort of theme presents itself throughout the night. Not so on this latest installment, or at least not an obvious one. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing, in a sense, because it shows how versatile and non-genred the Acoustic Sessions are. Such a disparate group of artists is difficult to achieve, but - and I suppose this could be a theme - the audience loved every single one.
Let's start with Szjerdene, the soulful and silken-voiced non-diva. I say non-diva because calling someone a diva nowadays usually brings with it connotations of vanity and pomposity, which Szjerdene surely isn't. A sweeter person you could never meet, and this comes through in her set. "Sorry if I start smiling during this song," she said softly before her final tune, a cover, "but I just really like it." Awww.
Szjerdene was brilliantly assisted by Yasmin on keys and Shakhar as a second singer for one song, both of them just as sweet as her. Add them to Szjerdene's incredible vocals to make a simply beautiful sound. There's not much I can add to that. Just know that it's amazing.
The poetic Chris Martin sound-alike Oli Wennink cut a dashing figure from behind his keyboard, wearing a velvety jacket and feather lapel-piece with jeans and dirty shoes. Indeed, Oli's tunes could be Coldplay covers were it not for the fact that Oli's actually have character. His songs occasionally veer into prog territory, with contrasting melodies somehow fitting one after the other, and are all the better for it. As Oli sings in Love Lost Generation, "Here's to the little time that we have." Cheers to that.
Boy Outside brought his Johnny Cash-ish sound to PAS, and his country-inspired tunes flowed nicely around the room. With his brown pointed boots and standard country singer shirt, you might expect Boy Outside to be nothing but that; but his long, wavy black hair indicates something else, and, sure enough, you can hear it in his music. His stuff isn't dominated by the Western motif, it merely hints at it, gives it a nod of acknowledgement and then goes off to do its own thing. Overall, his music is solid enough to get even the most fervent country-haters enjoying themselves.
Jazmine Ava came back to PAS from a long, long time ago, from the second - I think - ever show. Wearing dangly gold and green earrings and a hint of matching eye shadow, Jazmine rocked on to the stage fashionably late (or not so fashionably, when you consider that it was because her train was delayed). Her category-defying songs and strong voice bring a little piece of innovation to the party, particularly the Awimbaway-y "Set Me On Fire" and "Blue Eyes", for which the lyrics were apparently written by Jazmine's mum when she was just starting out. This probably explains why the words are fairly nonsensical, because mothers generally are, but it's sweet nonetheless, not to mention a brilliant song.
Oh, dear. I've just realised that I should have made the theme "sweetness". Why do you only think of these things after you've already bloody done them?
The
Portobello Acoustic Sessions is held every Thursday night from 7:30 at The Metropolitan bar, Westbourne Park.
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Sixx A.M. - The Heroin Diaries
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The PAS Diaries: Szjerdene, Oli Wennink, Boy Outside and Jazmine Ava
