This show was originally booked for the 28th February but has been rescheduled to Wednesday 23rd April.
Northumberland songwriter, poet and raconteur Peter Alexander Jobson will play The Folklore Rooms this February in support of his new album ‘Burn the Ration Books Of Love’.
Jobson said “‘Burn The Ration Books of Love’ is an album full of observations and reflections on the life choices I have made and the wages of the future dealt to me by those choices. I am passing on my experiences as I would if we were both sat together and the silence became unwelcome.”
When he was a little boy, Peter Alexander Jobson set his village on fire. For 40 years the cause of the blaze in the Northumberland fishing village of Alnmouth has remained a mystery to its 444 inhabitants. But no more. With the release of his first solo album ‘Burn The Ration Books Of Love’, the truth is finally revealed.
“I was 11 or 12, out cycling with an older kid I grew up with, and we’d gone to the shop to buy fags. We went to the sand dunes to smoke and were playing with matches. Next thing the dunes caught fire – then the golf course, and about two miles of the coast, a massive conflagration heading towards the village. We jumped on our bikes and pedalled as far as we could and as fast as we could to get away. Then we hid on the top of the hill overlooking the village and watched as half the village came to help put it out. We waited until it got dark fearing the worst – that we would be locked up or beaten by our parents. We almost burned the village down! And I’ve never told anyone before – not even my parents.”
The secret is out now, on an extraordinary collection that blends genres as diverse as country-flavoured psychedelia and cocktail jazz with the spirit of the Northern variety circuit. With his Northumberland accent and a voice that tells the tale of two decades in smoke-filled rooms followed by late-night drinking sessions, his vocals answer the question: what if Serge Gainsbourg had been born in the North East of England? Inspirations include Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Scott Walker, and Northern entertainers of days past like Les Dawson and the great Jake Thackray, elements of all can be heard in his world-weary voice, which has a more than passing resemblance to Bill Callahan’s soothing baritone.
All those influences come to bear on the first solo album by Jobson, who made his name as bass guitarist and keyboard player in I Am Kloot. After six albums and 16 successful years together the cult trio of Jobson, drummer Andy Hargreaves and singer/guitarist John Bramwell broke up after a final triumphant performance at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the 2016 Meltdown Festival on London’s South Bank. I Am Kloot were noted for their distinctive sound, the jazzy swing of Jobson and Hargreaves’ rhythm section blended with the dark poetry of Bramwell’s bleak and emotional “songs about drinking and disaster”. Kloot built a fervent following both in the UK and across Europe, culminating in a Mercury Music Prize nomination for their lavish fifth album, ‘Sky At Night’ – produced by Elbow’s Guy Garvey and Craig Potter in 2010.
Since the break-up of the band, Jobson has built a successful career composing and recording soundtracks for film and television. He has also recorded and performed as both a touring musician and support act for Elbow and for fellow North East artist Nadine Shah. Between these hectic periods of live commitments, Jobson also found time to commence work on the 11 songs that make up his debut solo record. Heavily autobiographical in inspiration, the songs on ‘Burn The Ration Books Of Love’ are deeply rooted in Jobson’s lived experience, and in his geographical roots in Northumberland, with its wild, windswept coastline, rugged hills and moors, and extensive agricultural farmland where his family have worked the land for generations. There’s also a rich history of poetry and storytelling from the region, from which Jobson has drawn inspiration – and is now an example.
From wistful reflections of a childhood that almost went up in smoke, to channelling his smouldering talents into some of his most autobiographical songs to date; ‘Burn The Ration Books Of Love’ finds Peter Alexander Jobson blazing a new trail all his own and delivering some of the finest work of his career.
Judging by the new album this promises to be a memorable show and given the venue’s size it is likely to be a sell out. Tickets are on sale now here.
Photo by Paul Husband.
