Gig review: Jane Weaver at The Crescent, York

And judging by the packed venue and warm welcome that greet her in York, playing the long game is really beginning to pay dividends.

Her latest album Flock sees Weaver approaching pop music, but very much on her own experimental terms. This is still after all the kind of gig where the support act is Leeds-based electronic composer Jake Mehew, whose entrancing set is a single continuously shifting improvisation on a modular synth, seamlessly building from ambient drones to pulsing basslines that set heads appreciatively nodding.

Jane Weaver’s ice-cool command of her voice is assured as her warm rapport with the crowd as she and her four-piece band kick off with the funky simmer and skimming 80s rhythm guitar of Pyramid Schemes before digging deep into the bouncing groove of The Revolution Of Super Visions.

Heartlow’s synth shimmers and folk-tinged vocals evoke the likes of Stereolab and Broadcast, while Stages Of Phases makes the Goldfrapp move of bringing a glam rock stomp into the world of arty electronic pop.

Absorbed in her performance, Weaver’s voice can soar effortlessly into ethereal Kate Bush territories, but between songs she’s a down-to-earth presence, joking about an online troll dismissing her as “cruise ship psych” – which she’s taken as a compliment – and flinging flowers she found backstage into the crowd.

Modern Kosmology’s electronic pulse is a highlight tonight and apparently soundtracked a scene of Killing Eve assassin Villanelle eating pasta in the hit TV show.

Together with the likes of Slow Motion, Mission Desire and I Need A Connection – which closes the main set with the kind of repeated hook that you could never get tired of – it makes for a setlist that demonstrates the strength of her back catalogue.

Jane Weaver may have taken a roundabout path, but she’s an artist who’s arrived at the peak of her powers – if you haven’t yet made her acquaintance, now would be an excellent time to do so.