★★★★★
Stepping out to a sea of people Yazmin Lacey holds a delicate teacup in hand. “So, this is the late-night crowd, huh?” she asks, jokingly.
At the start of March, Lacey released her debut album Voice Notes, drawing on her well-established sound of easy listening and smooth jazz. The 14-track album takes you on a journey through her creative process and, for her first two UK shows since the album’s release, Lacey treated us to a night of storytelling and great vocals, set to the backdrop of church bells chiming.
Playing at St Pancras Old Church, rows of chairs have been set up with space for standing at the rear of the venue. The crowd is slightly older than what I’m used to and it shows in the fact that for majority of the night sightings of phones are few and far between. Lacey has enraptured us all with her infectious energy as she runs through some of her favourite songs off her latest project.
Opening with ‘Bad Company’, Lacey and her three-piece band play off each other seamlessly. This being the second show of the night perhaps they’ve had time to polish their sound to loftier heights.
Throughout her set Lacey continues to sip on tea and interweaves her songs with anecdotes on being in the studio, taking risks on music and being in-tune with yourself and the what the world has to offer you. Lacey confides in us about the “really special” process of creating her latest album.
Working with various collaborators and friends on the album, studio time was a peaceful place for Lacey and in talking about the final song on the project, ‘Sea Glass’ she lets us know how she often escaped to the seafront to write lyrics. Hailing it a “Cancerian Anthem”, it suits her perfectly, Lacey’s grounding presence taking us through the song and into its final refrain echoing “everything is everything” over and over.
Hearing Lacey sing ‘Sea Glass’ is special, but this is topped by her performance of ‘Legacy’ which is dedicated to her late grandmother, Mary. At one point Lacey grows understandably upset and is bolstered by the supportive audience, along with her band who she introduces to cheers and a standing audience.
Lacey also performs standout renditions of her songs ‘Fool’s Gold’, ‘Eye to Eye’, ‘Where did you go?’ and ‘Sign and Signal’. The crowd revels in her desire to get us involved for the last 15 minutes of her set as she asks us what we’d like to hear next: a choice between ‘Morning Matters’ or ‘Black Moon’ – the latter being the first ever song she released. Shouts echo through the church as the audience throws their song selection to the rafters only to decide to go with the nostalgic ‘Black Moon’.
It’s at this point my Mum accompanying me is up on her feet, deciding she’s had enough of being an inactive watcher. Lacey looks over to her and smiles – the joy is infectious. For her last song, ‘Late Night People’ (a knowing addition to go last on her set list for a late night show), Lacey encourages everyone to get up on their feet and “when you see me do this”, she points to us, “it means to sing back to me!” Just like that, the audience is up on its feet, dancing and shouting to the track’s infectious hook.
In all, Lacey has taken us on a journey and let us into her carefully crafted world. Playing to the crowd and letting the music guide her, Lacey has put on an impeccable performance, managing to bring the sounds of her work in the studio to a church in Camden on a rainy Friday night on the last day of the March.
