REPOSTING FROM 2015! Heav­en­ly Records are cel­e­brat­ing their 25th anniver­sary by tak­ing over the Trades Club for the week­end with a packed pro­gramme of shows. In order to cram it all in, they’re adding mati­nee per­for­mances as well as the usu­al evening ones. It feels slight­ly odd and indul­gent to leave the snow, busy shops and cafes of Heb­den Bridge at lunchtime and enter the blacked-out Trades venue for a gig and a few drinks. The Heav­en­ly week­ender is giv­ing the Trades a cel­e­bra­to­ry buzz, the place seems to be per­ma­nent­ly packed, and the stage looks par­tic­u­lar­ly fetch­ing with a spark­ly Heav­en­ly banner.

The sup­port is Kid Wave, Heav­en­ly’s lat­est sign­ing, a young act with a breezy sum­mer vibe. Front woman Lea, and drum­mer Ser­ra both indulge in much hair swish­ing, as well as pro­duc­ing lan­guid vocals set against breezy gui­tar riffs, at times rem­i­nis­cent of ear­ly Pre­tenders. Give All I Want and Gloom a listen.

Jimi Good­win nat­u­ral­ly inspires a lot of love. He radi­ates ‘nice guy’ vibes – even when a few inci­dents test his affa­ble nature. Maybe he’s feel­ing slight­ly under the weath­er as he asks for water, fol­lowed by a ”petu­lant Z‑list rock star” request for tea with hon­ey before he takes a few hits of throat spray. There’s no evi­dence of any­thing being amiss though, his dis­tinc­tive vocals sound as usu­al, melan­cholic and soulful

The set con­cen­trates on Odludek, his debut solo album released last year, with a pep­per­ing of ear­li­er Doves num­bers. To open, Ter­ra­cot­ta War­rior announces itself with its jar­ring foghorn notes. This is fol­lowed by the 2009 clas­sic, King­dom of Rust, with the key­board fea­tur­ing more promi­nent­ly, giv­ing the song a dif­fer­ent feel.

A few tech­ni­cal prob­lems arise with faulty leads, giv­ing Jimi time to engage in some ban­ter with the good-natured Trades crowd. Live Like a Riv­er which on record I’ve passed over (vocals drowned by harsh key­board) sud­den­ly makes sense when it’s played live. The band unleash their full pow­er for Man Vs Din­go, the hard­est-edged of Odludek’s num­bers with a swag­ger that is some­what rem­i­nis­cent of The Stran­glers. It was a plea­sure to hear The Last Broad­cast again, Jimi deliv­ers a pow­ered-up ver­sion, rather than the gen­tle treat­ment he gave it at Fes­ti­val No 6 last summer.

The set clos­es with Lone­ly At The Drop – this song encap­su­lates the mag­ic of a Jimi Good­win num­ber, a dreamy, evoca­tive land­scape over­laid with those plain­tive some­what doom-laden vocals.

Links: Jimi Good­win; Heav­en­ly Record­ings ; Kid Wave, The Trades Club

THE SMALL PRINT

WHO: Jimi Good­win, Kid Wave
WHEN: 24 Jan­u­ary 2015
WHERE: The Trades Club, Heb­den Bridge