Tonight’s support, Jodie Abacus soaks the room with the happy go lucky reggae sound of ‘Halfway to Mexico’.
With a soulful breakdown and an unexpected guitar solo, the track is full of surprises, and thus serves as an apt introduction to this complex and intriguing set.
Broadly speaking, the South Londoner’s music might be placed in the funk and soul category, although his beautifully effective fusion of styles and elements that touches on everything from dance to Motown, hip hop to electronics, makes the division of genre feel arbitrary.
The diversity continues with the heavier sounds of ‘The Pain’ and the pop beat of ‘I Will Be That Friend.’
Normally the role of the support act revolves around their need to win over the crowd as the set develops, but in this case it seems that Abacus had everyone on side as soon as he starts playing, and he leaves the stage to cheers from a satisfied audience.
When the lights are dimmed for a second time and Laura Mvula bursts into the room, it feels as though she dominates the intimate venue from the stirring opening of the motivational ‘Overcome.’
Mvula’s musical talent is complemented by the positive messages that permeate her work both in and out of the recording studio; this month she was announced as the latest ambassador for MTV’s Staying Alive HIV project, and tracks ‘She’ and ‘Phenomenal Woman’ form an inspiring feminist soundtrack.
New album, In The Dreaming Room continues her well cultivated blend of gospel, world, soul and pop that proved both enormously publically and critically popular on her debut record, Sing To The Moon in 2013, although she confides in the crowd that incidents in her personal life have led to the theme of heartbreak featuring heavily in her more recent music.
The set is well balanced in that both records are represented, with new songs such as the uplifting ‘People’ sitting comfortably among older favourites, including her most popular single ‘Green Garden.’
Her performance, both graceful and gracious, is fascinating to watch, and through the course of the evening there are countless emotive and poignant moments; from her haunting rendition of ‘Father Father’, which concludes with her voice fading to a near inaudible whisper with the crowd visibly hanging on to every word, to the acapella gospel interlude in which every single person in the room participates, it’s obvious that she has a spellbinding effect over her audience.
Her lyrics are rich in sentiment and metaphor, her songs have the power to evoke tears, and minutes later inspire spirited dancing, and ultimately, the music she makes is different to that created by her contemporaries; all of which surely confirms that Laura Mvula deserves all of the success that she is currently receiving.
Words: Ellen Renton
