I sometimes write that I’ve been ancipitating a gig for months before hand; however I found myself seeing Joshua Radin almost by accident this week, having bought my ticket for the support act, Joseph Arthur. Scandalously the UK Government delayed Joseph's work visa, so he had to pull out at the last minute. I came fresh to Radin, having listened to one of his albums just a couple of times. However, I love exploration, and there was no question of me passing up the change to hear some live music. Instead, I joined his hard core fans and queued up enthusiastically to get a place on the coveted front rail.
Rosi Golan, the replacement support act, was a well-judged choice: like Radin she sings tenderly about love and relationships, creating a hushed, gentle mood. She is Israeli, but her pop songs are influenced by folk and Americana, and are contemplative, with the most subtle of accompaniments. She coped valiantly and professionally with sound problems and even the fire alarm sounding mid-song. The audience showed no desire to evacuate the building at this stage, and the show carried on, the errant alarm having been silenced.
Radin has worked as an actor, and he was almost as chatty between songs as Adele, clearly seeing it as his mission to engage the audience with humour and observations about his ex-girlfriends. He certainly established a genuine rapport (criticising George Bush and praising Obama will always go down well in Europe). He seemed to appreciate the intimate basement venue, which he described as 'old school'. Had the show taken place in a larger space I fear the magic would have been lost.
The 90 minute set ranged widely through his material, and with some of the more vigorous songs from his 3rd album, The Rock and The Tide making a particularly strong impression. The Danish drummer Frederik Bokkenheuser was a restrained accompanist, yet on the rare occasions when he was able to let rip, the joy on his face was a delight to observe. The audience was remarkably attentive, yet when Radin asked us to participate by clapping or singing along, the crowd came to life. Throughout the musicians were so evidently enjoying themselves.
For me though, the highlights were the new material he played, announced apologetically, and you can see a video of 'Where you belong' below, movingly performed acoustically at the very end of the show. This bodes well for the new album he's recording in January, which he described as 'stripped down', a return to his singer songwriter roots. His strength is in 'whisper rock': gentle, heart-warming simplicity; thoughtful lyrics sung in hushed tones.
This gig came after a difficult 24 hours for me, and I found Radin's music healing. He's been compared to Elliott Smith, but the question for me is whether his melodies are distinctive enough, and whether's there's sufficient variety of mood. He has pop sensibilities, which have succeeded in winning him a large audience, particularly with his second album Simple Times. Is there enough musical creativity, and in seeking wide appeal, does he make too few demands on the listener? He is sincere and I appreciated his hushed magic, but I doubt I’ll be reminiscing about this show in years to come. Radin isn't really a composer, and doesn't take enough risks for my taste. I respect his music making enormously, but ultimately for me it was a little limited in ambition.
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