Loading

The Jellyman's Daughter

Venue: Henderson's @ St John's
Town: Edinburgh
Date: 26/9/14
Website: http://www.thejellymansdaughter.com

The Jellyman's Daughter are an exciting new acoustic duo from Edinburgh. Emily Kelly (guitar and vocals) and Graham Coe (cello and vocals) combine exquisite vocal harmonies and instrumental virtuosity, with Graham's rhythmic, percussive and improvisational cello playing giving their music a unique appeal. Until fairly recently, I was blissfully unaware of The Jellyman's Daughter, but taking in a sparkling short instore gig at Edinburgh's Coda Music and then listening to their excellent debut album led me to snap up a ticket for the Edinburgh leg of their album launch tour.

Henderson's @ St John's provided a suitably atmospheric and intimate venue, which was filled to capacity for this gig. Support band Cera Impala and the New Prohibition warmed the audience up nicely with their infectious brand of americana, bluegrass and ragtime. Cera's warm vocals and punchy clawhammer banjo were to the fore, complemented by Dirk Ronneburg's swinging fiddle flourishes.

The Jellyman's Daughter were clearly delighted to be playing to a packed and enthusiastic audience in their home city and they rose to the occasion with exemplary performances of all of the (mostly self-penned) songs from their eponymous debut album. Joined by the excellent Paul Gilbody on double bass, the duo kicked off in dramatic fashion with the rootsy "Blue Lullaby", featuring a dazzling cello solo from Graham Coe. The stunning vocal harmonies on the plaintive and atmospheric "Come back To Me" were reminiscent of "Rumours"-era Fleetwood Mac. Cera Impala and Dirk Ronneburg returned to the stage to provide driving banjo and fiddle on the classic americana of "Anna", with its sing-along chorus and delightful plucked cello solo. The elegant and wistful "All That's Been" was notable for more gorgeous vocal harmonies and suitably sombre cello lines. In contrast, the bluegrass murder ballad "Carolina" was propelled along by meaty cello riffs and featured a soulful vocal from Emily Kelly, which recalled the bluesier end of K T Tunstall's range.

"Slow Burn" did exactly that, setting up a hypnotic groove overlaid with glorious gypsy-style fiddle breaks from Dirk Ronneburg and punchy mandolin fills from another guest musician, Gerry Kelly. An innovative and classy take on The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" was followed by the jazzy "Seeing Red", with beautifully interwoven vocal harmonies enriched by some deliciously swinging cello. The set closed with the oustanding ballad "Little Child", when Emily's gorgeous light and airy vocals were balanced by Graham's beautifully understated cello arrangement.

The audience naturally demanded an encore and were rewarded with another memorable melody and a final soaring cello solo on "Honey". This impressive new song augurs well for the next album. It also provided further evidence of The Jellyman's Daughter's talents as songwriters and performers and of their potential to go on and achieve great things in the future.

David Ferguson