John Shand Posts

May 6, 2017 / Features - Archive

Gregory Porter says he felt like an unexploded bomb while waiting for his career to take off. He had plenty of time to analyse the feeling as he was nudging 40 before his singing suddenly rocketed from Brooklyn’s clubs to a global audience. That meant he also had plenty of…

Live at the Village, Springwood Presbyterian Hall, May 4 7.5/10 Close your eyes and this church hall was a New York jazz club back when cigarette smoke fogged the air and no one cared. Lacing the music was a slight edge of danger: of risk-taking with flying tempos and two…

April 29, 2017 / Album Reviews - Archive

WOVEN (World Citizen) 7/10 Yeshe Reiners eschews extravagant musical gestures in favour of compressed melodies, repetitive rhythms and nuanced textures. This five-track EP epitomises his capacity to make so much out of so little. His songs are really hypnotic musical settings for half-spoken poetry laced with a refrain. My Further…