Chrissie Dux gets Justified at Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library
Chrissie Dux 'Justify' Album Launch Gig - Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library, 16 November 2023.
Review by David Court.
Chrissie Dux is a familiar face on the Coventry music scene, with several performances at Godiva Festival – including the BBC CWR Stage, under her belt. She’s had several successful single releases, demonstrating an almost Bryan Adams-esque talent for holding onto the number 1 slot at local radio station Hillz FM. With an eclectic and substantial body of original material behind her, an album release was thankfully inevitable, and this month saw the release of ‘Justify’, Chrissie’s debut album. To celebrate its release, there was a gig at Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library which would see the album played in its entirety. I was lucky enough to grab hold of tickets before they sold out, and the evening of Sunday 26 November saw a packed-out main room eager to hear this very special performance.
Kicking off proceedings is Willow. Singer-songwriter Ruth Kelly was due to open, but illness meant she had to step down, and the team at Elementary Whatson all wish Ruth a speedy recovery. Stepping in at the last minute must have been a daunting prospect – especially for a solo artist armed only with two guitars – but Willow is unfazed, launching into a gorgeous acoustic set. Singer/songwriter Willow Taiwo is clearly a talent to watch, with heartfelt lyrics on a par with her vocal and guitar skills – and it’s a wonderful way to start the evenings proceedings.
Next are Coventry two-piece Brass Hip Flask. In contrast to the comparatively more tranquil melodies of Willow, The Mckissock brothers come hurtling in with a delightfully foot-stomping raw slab of earthy blues. Capable of making as much sound as a band twice their size, their set is a room-shaking wall of guitar and drums. Upon seeing them setting up, comparisons to the excellent Ohioan two-piece The Black Keys seemed fair – and justified when their guitarist Stuart mentioned them himself. The two opening acts were as different as chalk and cheese, but both proved to be highly competent and entertaining musicians – a great scene-setter for the main performance. Events such as this are great at introducing an audience to new sounds, and I’ll definitely be listening out for these two acts in the future – and I’d urge you to do the same.
Chrissie was accompanied on stage by guitarist Chris Clarke, bassist Dave and drummer Max, themselves recognisable as three quarters of the popular Coventry band The Guitar Heroes.
A relevant aside - There’s a touch of the dying art to the traditional band album these days – the way we digest music has changed so much in recent years with the dawning of streaming services, that we tend to pick and choose the songs we like. Albums are an odd beast in that when done right, they’re a carefully curated set of tunes, with the order of the tracks – and the resultant travelling through themes - carefully ordered by the musicians involved. To have the opportunity to hear the album as it’s supposed to be heard – from start to finish, in the proper sequence, is a rare thing, which makes events like this evening particularly unique.
Chrissie – deserving finalist of this years’ Guinness/Express Music Songwriter competition, had been suffering from vocal issues a few days before, forcing her to pull out a gig to rest up for this evenings’ album launch – but there’s no sign of any frailty in her voice this evening as Chrissie and the band perform their way through the ten tracks that make up the album.
I’ve been avidly following Chrissie’s upwards trajectory on the Coventry music scene for some time now, and the eclecticism and variety of her material never fails to amaze me – not to mention the raw honesty in her lyrics. There’s not an emotion left unploughed in the ten tracks presented here, from the upbeat playfulness of opener ‘Hey Moon’ to the bittersweet and guarded optimism of ‘Make it through the year’.
She makes switching between roles look easy, from the hard rock of title track ‘Justify’ to quieter more subdued acoustic moments – and her accomplished band are equally as chameleonic. She doesn’t shy away from painful topics – opening up between songs to discuss how some of the tracks helped her with a painful period of grieving – but the mood of the evening is triumphant, the audience clearly happy to have heard the album from start to finish in such a perfect and intimate setting. The album is an impressive and varied body of work, and Chrissie should be incredibly proud.
As an aside, thanks must go to the tireless volunteers at Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library. In her opening, Chrissie mentions how she’d chosen the library as a venue in part because of the work they do in the local community for sufferers of dementia, something she has experience of with her own family. They’ve been nothing less than incredibly supportive of local musicians, and this spot turned out to be the perfect venue for an otherwise miserable wet and windy Sunday evening.
For more details about Chrissie Dux, click here.
