There’s a posy of flowers atop Jordan Rakei‘s upright piano at the centre of the Usher Hall stage. It’s a decorative gesture that puts you in mind of his appearance on Later… with Jools Holland where, as he explains to the host, a vase of flowers has been placed close by him in order to make the vibe of his performance lighter and more welcoming. And this pleasant touch is magnified by the presence of what appears to be living room standard lamps, by each of his five-piece band, giving-off a gentle, homely atmosphere. The lamps double as fascinator-lighting, alternating in colours to supplement sweeping LED spotlights as the programme progresses.
It’s a look quite in keeping with the polite Usher Hall, which in recent years has been home to many a pop/indy/rock artist, and this year’s International Festival’s Contemporary Music offer is again making use of diverse venues across the city, sharing them with the classical performers that have been a staple of the Festival since its inception, and in the case of the Usher Hall, for a hundred and ten years. Though I’ve enjoyed many a contemporary band in the Hall, I still feel that the clear delivery of strongly-amplified sound often depends on where you are seated (and it was all-seating in this case).
This approachable look complements well the songs performed by the 32 year-old New Zealand-born, London-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer: richly-coloured, they are uniformly sweetly melodic (without being saccharine) and articulated with nicely-judged three-part harmonies – all the shinier for being note-perfect throughout. And although sometimes intoning troubled or highly-personal lyrics, add Rakei’s creamy James Blake-like higher-register vocals again hitting the sweet-spot and making for an even richer mix, never spilling-over into the raw or passionate.
This being his first Edinburgh outing, it was maybe fitting that the setlist comprised an overview of his much-garlanded career to date, reaching back to 2017’s Wallflower and subsequent releases, plus cuts from the recently-released The Loop LP, which maybe more than before betrays the personal and vulnerable voice familiar in songwriters of the folk genre such as John Martyn or Laura Marling; at the same time the instrumentation is often ambitious, reflecting his natural musical curiosity and impressive capability to meet it. In 2015 he moved from Brisbane, Australia, to London, and was nominated for a Grammy for his work with electronic trip-hop/dance duo Disclosure.
The playing is pristine, with jazzy inflections, and the placing of the drums, percussion, keys, bass and guitar is imaginative and instinctively-judged, achieving a density and power without over-egging the pudding – a skill in arranging that’s repeatedly evident. Although jazz-literate, solos are few, and lacking any grandstanding – instead reminiscent of the Soul of Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder, and it put me in mind of Curtis Mayfield and Christopher Cross.
Between numbers, Rakei is pleasantly conversational throughout, with intact antipodean brogue, noting that this is his Edinburgh Festival debut, and the honour that comes with playing this venue – which played well with the audience, who warmed easily to him, and evidently included a sizeable number who knew his back catalogue well, standing for a farewell that they no doubt hope won’t be the last – haste ye back.
