We are in London to catch the sold-out headline set on the 27th May from the maker of our favourite album of the year so far.

I really loved jasmine.4.t’s debut album back in January and it has only grown in my estimations in the months since. Some albums are noisy and brutal; others are quiet and fragile. This one was full of the most beautiful human observations. The fragility, the ethereal magic of the album is what I loved about it but it also worries me, can that magic be translated into the live arena?

Grandmas House

Before we get to the main event, I was extremely excited to find out Grandmas House were supporting. Their releases to date have all been top notch. They do not disappoint, ‘Nothing Special’ is a surging opener, a propulsive punk-rock hybrid.

Yasmin Berndt has such a wonderfully gravelly voice. They share a certain amount of DNA with Irish band Sprints, Karla Chubb is an equally exciting and abrasive singer.

Things go up a notch with ‘Screw It Up.’

Every track hits hard. There are a couple of unreleased ones, ‘Dog’ and ‘Choo Choo.’

‘Haunt Me’ is particularly strong. Poppy Dodgson comes out from behind the drums to take lead vocals. She also takes point on final track, ‘Body.’ The crowd that are early enough to catch it give enthusiastic approval at the end of the set. Keep an eye on this lot, they deserve to go onto bigger things.

Jasmine.4.t

Whilst setting up guitar pedals during the change-over jasmine pauses to chat to a young fan she recognises at the front of the stage. It clearly means the world to them as she asks questions about how they have been since the last gig she saw them at. It neatly shows what an important icon jasmine has become to a Trans community that has felt increasingly under siege of late. It equally shows how much little gestures from artists can go a long way.

jasmine starts off the set with twinkling guitar track ‘Kitchen.’ Simon and Garfunkel would likely approve of the simple, but beautiful, melody. To make it clear that we should not be safely complacent this is followed up, the full band arriving to join in, with a cover of ‘No Cigar’ by Millencollin. There is most definitely a rockier, skate-punk side to jasmine and it will be interesting to see if that comes more to the fore on future albums. Amusingly, violinist and keyboard player Phoenix is using jasmine’s skateboard to balance her keyboard on.

Daringly, we go straight from the cover version to one of the best tracks from You Are The Morning, ‘Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation.’ As feared, some of the vocals are a little bit buried on various tracks in this live presentation. It is only an occasional issue, much of the time they are fine, but it does show the difficulty of bringing such a fragile creation to life.

jasmine provides commentary on a number of tracks. ‘Highfield’ is forever changed for me as we hear the horror story of how this was written as a response to being assaulted. There is talk of how important these gigs have become to jasmine, to be in rooms filled with love and understanding. There are some strongly felt “Fuck You’s” addressed towards the Supreme Court for setting back Trans rights by decades.

The main part of the set comes to an end with a magnificent rendition of ‘Elephant.’ The band summon huge reserves of energy to give it the full justice it deserves.

There is an encore, we get a heartfelt rendition of ‘Woman’ followed by an unreleased track entitled ‘Don’t you know’. Again, this one leans a little more spirited and rockier than the majority of You Are The Morning. jasmine comes out into the crowd, almost taking me out with her guitar on the way down, it sounds great. There are a couple of moments towards the end to advertise things that go beyond music. jasmine has released a limited time available acoustic version of three of the album tracks on Bandcamp to raise money for AKT, a charity that supports young homeless members of the LGBTQ+ community. You can get it here https://jasmine4t.bandcamp.com/album/you-are-the-morning-akt-fundraiser-ep She also discusses a legal support fund for a roadie who is facing charges for allegedly entering a factory and damaging a munitions production line that was supplying arms for Israel. What crazy times we live in.

Simply on musical merit this was a fine performance, doing justice to an album that could have been dificult to translate live when it is so full of quiet moments. It goes well beyond that when you look around the room. There were plenty of Trans people in the audience. Some had come with friends, one was with their Mum (a wonderful act of solidarity, enjoying this music together), a few had come on their own and had stood around awkwardly until the music started. For some it was probably a real act of bravery to come to this event alone, but something they felt compelled to do. jasmine made each and every one of them feel seen, and loved, during the course of the evening. Music, and in particular live music, has always had the power to bring people together and to break down barriers. So it was tonight.

jasmine.4.t will be at Reading Festival, unless there is a horrendous stage clash we will be there again to support this wonderful artist.

jasmine.4.t: You Are The Morning