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Borders bookshop is not the most obvious venue for a gig but it is highly suitable for that sensitive soul and glorious lush, Anthony Reynolds. Especially in his incarnation as Jacques rather than Jack, a small and (sort of) intimate venue seems to suit him, and what could be more appropriate than a bookshop for someone whose lyrics often read like poetry of a high class. The result was an interesting and relaxed set of songs, some classic asides from Anthony, and a selection of readings from his forthcoming book, These Roses Taste like Ashes.
The set kicked off with the poignant I Don't Know Why I Want You, released last year on the Argentinean Faster Than Beauty EP. The sparse line-up of viola (played by the aptly named John Viola) and Will Forster on piano provided a suitably melancholy backing for Anthony's quieter lyrics and wine-dark voice. Two old favourites followed - When I was King from the first Jacques album, How to Make Love, and Biography of a First Son from Pioneer Soundtracks, the ground-breaking first Jack album released in 1996. It's easy to imagine the young Anthony living the lyrics of this exuberant song - including throwing up and missing the night bus - and it works surprisingly well even without the wonderful driving rhythms of the recorded version. After Beauty and Me, a simple but effective song released with the new Blue Party single, it was time for reading.
Some old, some new pieces: ranging from the lyrics to Ballad for a Beautiful Blonde Eye (Anthony breaks off half way through to tell us, in case we hadn't grasped the point, that it was about him making friends with his cock…) to the rather sentimental When I'm a Daddy dedicated to (presumably) Keith Cullen of Setanta, who has recently become just that again. There was some beautiful writing, for example an untitled poem, written shortly after Anthony moved to London:
A necklace of bones in your little girl's hands
Beyond your wet shine shoulders boats burning on land
The sea kissing sky with nothing in between
Your eyes lost in stars, asking where I've been.
Marks on my skin, hands trembling with loneliness
The starfish-studded sand, the world above us cloudless
With surf in her hair and salt on her lips
She wants to know where I've been?
When every day I followed her footsteps
To find that they ended at the sea...
Back in music mode Anthony had relaxed thoroughly by this time and gave us three songs from the new To Stars album (the title track, London Loves You and I Won't Let You Down). These were supplemented by a favourite Jack song, Fall In Love With Me Again, which was "cooped away on strange B sides and Spanish-only records. Keep your clothes on in public on the first date, is the moral of this story", cracks Anthony, regaling us with the tragedy of a girl who went off him. The song certainly deserves a wider hearing, with its Spanish flavour and typical sweeping lyric line - perhaps with the other To Stars single, Sad in the Sun, later this year?
And that was it - short but sweet. Those of us addicted to the melancholy beauty that is Jacques could have done with more, but perhaps that would have been greedy when the pub was calling.
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