Review: Jane Weaver – Deezer Live at the Hospital Club

British singer-songwriter Jane Weaver is one of the unsung heroes of contemporary British music. Since her band Kill Laura split up in the mid-Nineties, she has released six solo albums, been involved with multiple side projects and set up her own record label, Bird Records. Her latest album, 2014’s The Silver Globe, was a favourite of ours, the latest in a string of consistently excellent records.

So we were very pleased to welcome her to the Deezer Live stage late last year, where she joined Liverpudlian alt-pop singer-songwriter Dan Croll to bring us an evening of music at our monthly gig at The Hospital Club in Central London.

Weaver’s five-song set took in prog rock, psychedelic electronica and more than a pinch of nostalgia, sampling her teenage favourites Hawkwind and drawing on memories of the power plants of her hometown of Widnes to create the immensely captivating ‘Electric Mountain’. Her weightless vocals were fragile yet commanding, underpinned by the driving, swirling arrangements provided by her four-piece band.

The unrelenting and propulsive opening track ‘Argent’ was one of the more intense moments, while ‘Mission Desire’, possibly Weaver’s most popular song, sounded more urgent and ominous in a live setting. Later on ‘I Need A Connection’ was a pause for breath, a sparse and languid interlude halfway through the set.

You can listen to Jane Weaver’s Live At The Hospital Club EP below, and discover all of the artists that have performed on the Deezer Live stage in this playlist. Follow us on Twitter to make sure you don’t miss out on any future events!