It is even rarer for an artist to develop an instantly recognizable signature sound. Ever since the Manchester-based songwriter, musician and producer departed from the folkier terrain of her first few solo records with 2014’s superbly propulsive The Silver Globe, Jane Weaver has managed both feats with impressive ease.
Significant part of Weaver’s appeal is centred on a distinctive twist on the kosmische guidebook drafted by widely worshipped German pioneers ala Can, Harmonia, Cluster and Neu! some 50-odd years ago, with a drop of otherworldly dancefloor intent also in the mix. The real secret to Weaver’s success in an overcrowded field, however, is her ability to combine a deep appreciation for hypnotic repetition and vintage synth geekery with an effortless gift for genuinely substantial songwriting – and Love In Constant Spectacle might just be Weaver’s most consistently impressive batch of material yet.
2021’s streamlined and punchy Flock could be interpreted as Weaver’s Covid-derailed bid for wider appeal. Love In Constant Spectacle invites the listener to pause to admire the scenery: tunes like the blissfully floating “Univers” drift by in an unhurried, heavy-lidded haze, before – a crucial distinction between typical cosmically minded noodling and Weaver’s MO – the hooks and riches emanating from vivid musical imagination sink their claws in.
Not that the album as a whole is in any way sleepy or lacking in energy. Apart from the uncharacteristically sparse (and positively luminous) singer – songwriter setting of “Motif” and the slow-burn of closer “Family of The Sun”, the coda of which features the album’s only reference to textbook motorik glide, the songs often straddle propulsive organic grooves that coalesce perfectly with Weaver’s dreamy melodies and weightless vocals. Aside from a few more decidedly (and deliciously) abstracted offerings (including the stuttering avant-funk of “Happiness In Proximity”, which seems to balance between the more percussive offerings of Stereolab and their most overt inspiration, Can), Love In Constant Spectacle is full of effortless pop prowess coated in exotic psych-infused finery, culminating in the gently soaring “Romantic Worlds”, which bears some resemblance to a lost hit from a 60s pop starlet who has unexpectedly developed an interest in fuzzy psychedelic sensory overloads and woozy disorientation.
It's this juxtaposition between strong experimental instincts and ability to weld them seamlessly to a keen interest in (and talent for) engaging and accessible songwriting that makes Love In Constant Spectacle (and Weaver’s previous run of solo albums) such an unmissable treat.
