REVIEW: Paul Rhodes’s verdict on Across The Evening Sky, Pocklington Arts Centre

Josienne Clarke: “Did a wonderful job bringing Sandy Denny’s much-loved songs back to an audience” at Pocklington Arts Centre. All pictures: Paul Rhodes

Across The Evening Sky: Josienne Clarke Sings the Songs of Sandy Denny, Pocklington Arts Centre, April 25

A NIGHT of Sandy Denny is not one to be missed. In the week of the 47^th anniversary of Denny’s early death at 31, singer-songwriter Josienne Clarke did a wonderful job bringing these much-loved songs back to an audience.

Clarke has an affinity for Denny, whom she discovered when someone said she sounded like her. She has a voice capable of doing justice to the poetic melancholy that ran so deep. She doesn’t copy as such, but reinterprets the material faithfully in her own style. Clarke’s voice is more trained than Denny’s, adding an almost classical precision.

The voice and the lyrics took centre stage, accentuated by Clarke’s warm presence and her striking way of tilting her head to her left as she sings. Her top-notch four-piece band (Alec Bowman-Clarke on low-slung bass, Dave Hamblett on drums, Matt Robinson on keyboards, and the distinctive Lukas Drinkwater on lead guitar) provided sympathetic accompaniment, and they grew in confidence as the set progressed.

Josienne Clarke performing at Pocklington Arts Centre with band members Dave Hamblett, Alec Bowman-Clarke and Lukas Drinkwater

Running to 15 songs over 80 minutes, in a combination of “hard or very hard” material to sing and play, the setlist was skilfully chosen. There was barely a misstep, perhaps only Blackwaterside was a bridge too far. This reviewer can’t have been the only one who would happily have stayed for another set, or two, hopefully next time around.

Sandy Denny’s legacy is an unusual one. The audience were mostly of the same generation as Denny, as her flame still burns largely in darkness for younger listeners. Award winning but low selling in her lifetime, her legend now sits at the very apex of the folk pyramid.

Unlike her contemporary Nick Drake, her music has never really reached the mainstream. The exception is the standard Who Knows Where The Time Goes – our encore. Like many so-called standards (Song To The Siren, A Song For You), this is musically simple, but the lyrics somehow harness something universal. The evocative opening line provides the title of the evening’s performance.

Maybe much of Denny’s work is too private and melancholy to ever gain mass appeal. She liked to mask her feelings in complex metaphors. The other factor is, far more than Drake, her records were all flawed and marred by overproduction (“the string fur coats” as Denny called it) or poor song selection.

Josienne Clarke: “Spot on sticking to the slow ballads” in her April 25 concert

After Fairport, Denny’s up-tempo songs were always the weakest on any of her records (you would be wise not to Jump The Broomstick with Richard Thompson), and Clarke was spot on sticking to the slow ballads. Autopsy, Late November, The Pond And The Stream and the deathless Fotheringay were all present and beautifully, lovingly restored.

In the words of Old-Fashioned Waltz, one of her very finest (and the title track of her finest LP), Denny’s music will always be held dear. Clarke is aware of the weight of expectation that comes with the songs and this humility provided one of the most memorable moments. Towards the end of Matty Groves, she forgot the words momentarily, and her smiles and laughter were a joy to see – an echo of Denny’s own vibrant fragility.

It was always asking too much for Clarke to freeze time, but she and her band did a wonderful job of transporting Pocklington to Sandy’s musical mansion on the other side of the moon. Clarke is planning to release a new record of her own recordings, heavily influenced by Denny, and on this showing, that should be quite something.

Review by Paul Rhodes