So the AXjets do big and they definitely do loud. But can they do small? Duets is a limited release, straight off of the desk recording that captures Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen of Dolly Varden, live and acoustic. Harmony vocals and a single acoustic guitar is about as small (and as exposed) as it gets. Play ‘The thing You Love (Is Killing You)’ and the two voices and the hollow bodied instrument are precisely located in height, space and proportion, separated but bound together musically. The almost painful intensity of the harmonies, the slightly awkward fingering and articulation of the guitar part just add to the humanity of the performance. Nothing escapes the AXjet’s ability to trace the micro-dynamic shifts and accents that betray every nuance in the playing. Whether it’s Steve Dawson stepping up from his more normal rhythm role to play the slightly stilted lead melody, or Alina Ibragimova stretching to encompass the emotional range and intensity of Shostakovich’s 1st Violin Concerto, the effort and intensity in both cases is clear to hear and an integral (and important) part of the performance.
Spit and polish…
Play great recordings and the AXjets bring them spookily to life. Familiar audio chestnuts like Valerie Carter’s ‘Ooh Child’ (from Just A Stone’s Throw Away – Columbia/Horizon 34155) are injected with a life and freshness that reinvigorates them. The lead vocal has a ghostly presence to it, full of natural nuance and inflection. The space around and behind is peopled with backing singers and instrumentalists presented with natural scale and perspective. The cymbal work is crisp and on point, the heavily fingered bass-line, clear, perfectly paced and pitch distinct. It’s always been a great recording – hence its ‘demo-disc’ status – but the AXjets still manage to bring something fresh and interesting to tracks that often sound hackneyed and over exposed.
The natural vocal qualities, the ability to capture and project a singer’s sense and character, extend across genres and recordings. Rag’n’Bone Man’s distinctive, earthy vocals on Human (Sony 89853 98541) are a solid presence, underpinned by the tactile pulse of yet another clearly shaped and timed bass-line. But what matters most is that this ability to inject life and humanity into the reproduced performance extends to less than pristine, even downright messy recordings. I could cite any number of live discs and any number of studio productions, but the ability of the AXjets to bring order and pattern to what all too often constitutes chaos is a constant. Whether it’s Steve Dawson going totally over the top and well into soul overdrive on Dolly Varden’s live performance of ‘You Sexy Thing’, or the riotous ‘Killing An Arab’ (a track based on the writings of Albert Camus, rather than Tommy Robinson!) from The Cure’s Concert album (Fiction fihx10) the AXjets manage to capture the raw energy and harness it, with musical purpose, to the performance. Low-fi or grunge, punk ‘bootlegs’ or semi-official out-takes, these speakers operate without fear or favour. If they can get cosy with PJ Harvey demo tracks, there’re few recordings that will trip them up.
