Live performances consisting of one person, an acoustic guitar and a microphone can make the audience member appreciate the skill of songwriting and performing. Although both musicians tonight bring a sense of shyness to their sets, they each have an ability to invest the audience through gorgeous wordplay and melodic progressions. Will Varley and Jack Valero create an atmosphere where time and the outside world seem like trivial considerations as you become fascinated by their ability to knit multifaceted notions into deft yet simple compositions.
Valero, first on, commands the attention of everyone here through technically rich guitar playing and an ability to match concepts of politics, mental health and relationships with sharp hooks. That should come as no surprise, considering he’s the son of veteran English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg – although I don’t think that’s widely known amongst tonight’s audience, going on the reactions of surprise from the few people I mentioned this to. Frankly, he doesn’t need people to know: his set shows his ability to be emotionally affecting, and due to that I daresay he’s found a few new fans tonight.
Will Varley begins his performance with a sense of trepidation, awkwardly fumbling with the mic stand and moving about the stage, provoking laughter from the audience. This is contrasted with fascination as we silently appreciate, or perhaps quietly sing the words to songs like The Man Who Fell To Earth or Weddings & Wars. The rest of his show is a mix of deeply thoughtful moments and humour.
Our headliner asks the audience at one point to imagine that time is still, and we just perceive it as moving, introducing Statues – whose lyrics contemplate, “maybe time is a statue, not a river.” Before playing an as-yet-unnamed new song, Varley tells us, “I wrote this song for my daughter, for her birthday present. She wanted a bike.” Closing song, King For A King, provokes the largest audience reaction, seeing everyone passionately sing the words back to Varley as if promising to “never grow up”.
Finally, the singer expresses his gratitude to be playing live again. Songs of his like Seize The Knight focus on small moments that bear huge emotional significance, for that reason, of all of the gigs I’ve been to since we were allowed to again, this felt like one of the most poignant.
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Fri 20 May
words ALEX SWIFT
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