Gabriel Winterfield
is infectious, present tonight with Sydney based outfit Jagwar Ma, he
has obvious intent, to play some of the best new music to be heard
this year and to have fun doing it. Selling out Manchester's Deaf
Institute, not an easy feat when the city's student population have
decamped to lick their wounds for another summer, the crowd seem no
less eager than the band to comply to their manifesto. The band,
completed tonight by full time member Jono Ma twiddling knobs on
synth and beats duty, and touring bass player Jack who moves with
such splendour that he most definitely would have still been present
on stage if he was instrument free. The trio open with "What Love" a
track that first appeared as b-side to early single Come Save Me but
now takes precedence on both the début album Howlin and the bands
live set list. The throbbing synth line's of "What Love" give birth to
Gabriel's soaring vocal lines which, aided by delays and loops, sound
every bit as luscious live as they do on record. The extended
versions of tracks, witnessed in the non-radio friendly edits, glow
and demonstrate a band who have truly embraced a diverse range of
influences. The result is an act who have enough vocal melody and pop
credibility to break the mainstream but with deep grooves and the oft
referenced baggy Madchester beats that wouldn't be out of place
curating the Warehouse Project. This marriage is recognizable on "Let
Her Go" where a dab hand at lyrics reveals Gabriel confessing “I've
become undone I want my lips stitched back together”. The song
balloons to a chorus every bit as much Beck as it is Chemical
Brothers before the inevitable, but nonetheless desirable, lyrical
decay and dance beat influx. The band drops "Come Save Me" and "Man I
Need" to rapturous reception before closer "The Throw" demonstrates best
where the Madchester acid house comparisons come from as the flailing
limbs of the band are reciprocated by the crowd. It seems lazy to
solely reference the acid-house scene from the 80's when writing
about Jagwar Ma because for a post-hacienda Manchester resident they
seem to speak to more than just that generation and with Gabriel's
boyish good looks, confident stage persona and most of all the
strength of the music, we may see them adorning the walls of
generations to come.
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