Jill Barber @ London Music Club



Yesterday afternoon I caught Jill Barber and her brother, Matthew Barber at the London Music Club. I was especially excited to be seeing Jill Barber after my dad introduced me to her pretty folk music and I scored her EP Oh, Heart from a friend. Needless to say, it was a fantastic EP, but quite basic. So when I heard her latest LP For All time released on Dependant Records, the production value surprised me. I liked her when it was just her and a guitar strumming away, but I guess I haven't given it a good enough listen yet as I forgot the CD in my dads car on the way to my bus. I'm sure it'll grow on me.
But back to the live show, which was pretty impressive. Matthew Barber didn't really impress me as his music was mellow, coffee shop kind of tunes, very basically played on the acoustic guitar and piano. I thought his name sounded familiar, so it didn't surprise me when he said he plays Call The Office pretty often with his band. I'm not sure if I'd pay to see him again, perhaps only to see if he sounds better with a band.
Jill was fantastic, though. She brought along Les Cooper, who played guitar on the album, and the two of them played some of my old favourites from the EP and a heap of new ones from the LP which were quite impressive. If you have a thing for Jenny Lewis, Neko Case or more notably Basia Bulat, then you'll love Jill Barber's pretty folk/alt-country music.

You can also read a review of the show she played in Kingston by fellow Barber fan B(oot)log.

MP3: Jill Barber - "Measures and Scales [Live]"
MP3: Jill Barber - "In Perfect Time [Live]"