The music of Frazey Ford doesn't ebb and flow, nor does it meander around a plethora of moods and emotions. It aims for the pulse and once settled drifts along in a rhythmic haze. This is an artist raised on a diet of folk and its alternative strands before finding a rich seam blending in the most hypnotic restful soul. The pinnacle of a three album solo expanse since the gradual wind down of the Be Good Tanyas came in 2020 with the utterly delightful U KIN BE THE SUN. Now the time has arrived to ramp up the live presence and take its luscious sound on the road.
With a 5-piece band intact, the departure from western Canada for a return to European shores was in safe hands. Early reports from the initial shows sounded positive and this proved the case as Frazey and her band returned to the lavish surroundings of Warwick Arts Centre right at the heart of the campus of the university of the same name.
It was the larger of this venue's two auditoriums that first introduced me to the music of the Be Good Tanyas in a live capacity, but this was at the back end of their career in 2013. In the intervening years, the band did return to play Moseley Folk festival later that year, but focus as shifted to the solo career of Frazey Ford. A high spot came a couple of years later when one of her UK tours called into the Birmingham Glee Club to leave a lasting memory. Things has been a little quiet since 2015 and the current worldwide situation meant a lengthier extension to getting back into the cyclical groove of recording and touring.
Finding a groove is not something Frazey Ford struggles with. Aided by the impressive triumvirate of drums, bass and lead guitar, which support without dominating, and the trusted backing vocals of long established sidekick Caroline Ballhorn, an appreciative audience converging on the the outskirts of Coventry from all parts of the West Midlands witnessed a fabulous performance. Between an immaculately timed 8:30 entry point and 10:00 theatre curfew, folk 'n' soul in its blueprint form circulated a room blessed with an optimum sound presence.
As expected, material from U KIN BE THE SUN bristled and blossomed. Tracks such as 'The Kids are Having None of It', 'Money Can't Buy' and 'U and Me' oozed with splendour. We learned of album opener 'Azad' being dedicated to Frazey's sister and title track 'U Kin Be the Sun' duplicate its role of closing the album and now the encore. Older material held up as exemplified by 'Done' being introduced as a bitch anthem and the top notch 'Firecracker' . The latter now dates back over a decade from the debut album OBADIAH, released before the Be Good Tanyas took their apparent final bow.
Frazey herself chooses the fill frequent moments of inter song respite with irreverent chat, adding to a personal charm rather than sending you home furnished with the ins and outs of what has been and still is a distinguished career. You have to settle with the parting shot of a blissful massage of your aural senses. Musically, you can ask for no more, and a most distinctive of voices joined by keyboard and guitar work deploys a sound sculptured with a reassuring and consistent texture.
Warming a healthy turnout for a gig postponed a year was a local based Coventry sibling duo going by the names of Catherine and Josephine Nightingale. Two voices, one guitar and an ancestry ripe for song exploration defined their stage presence and their booking was a good fit for a soulful theme that threaded throughout the evening. This is soul in its purest form. Not brash, but putting the emphasis on roots and meaning, rather than a more active allurement. This is in line with what Frazey Ford achieves from the route she has taken her solo career.
U KIN BE THE SUN was a lockdown anthem in the way many of us looked inwards in the dark months of late spring 2020. Now thanks to Frazey Ford, her band and the mechanism that has landed a decent run of dates on the current tour, we are now no longer looking inwards but out towards a shared feeling of a record getting its true vocation. Out there and up front for all to enjoy in a variety of dimensions.
