Live Review: Japanese Wallpaper, Eilish Gilligan, Jaguar Jonze

Playing her first solo show to a half-full room, Jaguar Jonze is as anxious as she is thrilled to be here. Her sultry rasp is a winner, but it’s the honesty in her performance that ultimately wins the room - she is open about her crippling nerves and the inspiration for unreleased track 'Astronaut', and yet her voice shines with charisma and confidence. Her cover of The Cure’s Lovesong is a set highlight, alongside her closing number with its hypnotic riff and falsetto; a brilliant end to a performance that brought to mind the likes of Kimbra and Sahara Beck.  

Anyone eccentric enough to don matching full-length, bright red, patterned outfits can be expected to put on a good show, and Eilish Gilligan does not disappoint. She has a voice like Florence Welch and similarly dramatic expressions, accompanied by unusual rhythms and an enthusiastic partner manning the synthesiser. Her single Patterns, with its playful, relatable lyrics, wins the crowd over. The set is a twinkling tapestry of electronica with just enough space left for an intimate piano ballad. The only thing more impressive than Gilligan’s vocal tenacity is the endless energy in her every movement.

Besides his signature cap and glasses, the first thing we notice about Japanese Wallpaper, aka Gab Strum, is a sense of intense shyness. His facial expression displays nerves from the moment he takes the stage, but that doesn’t stop him from delivering note-perfect renditions of the first few numbers. 

Multitasking skills serve him well from beginning to end as he operates the synth pad with a guitar still across his chest and a microphone in his face. The layers of instrumentation produce an impressive volume in Ready, Waiting and crowd favourite Cocoon, and despite the air of stillness on stage and throughout the room, the front row is still full of movement. Live renditions of Breathe In and Forces have the crowd singing along and loving every minute. A new track we're told is called 'Glow' is a pleasant melodic surprise. 

The set finishes off with Between Friends, and again, the sound is beautiful, almost a perfect replica of the recording. There’s only one thing missing, and that’s animation. There is almost no detectable facial expression from any one of the four band members on stage throughout the set, and by a few songs in, it seems almost comical that anyone could look so bored while standing on a stage in front of a few hundred people. Of course, it’s difficult to move around a small stage with precariously placed instruments and devices, but there’s a lot to be said for a smile or a sense of enjoyment from the stage. That may not be there tonight, whether the performers are conscious of it or not, but if you judge only by ear, the show is perfect.