La, la, la, Matana

But to adapt the phrase taken from the title of the book by Simon Reynolds about post-punk, Roberts certainly knows how to tear it up. Ahead of the release in February of her album Live In London on Barry Adamson’s Central Control International label, she returned to where it was recorded, Dalston’s Vortex, where she played at the LJF last night.

Now very much part of the New York cutting edge scene where she curated a month of gigs at The Stone earlier in the year, the Chicagoan was with the same band from the album, apart that is from Polar Bear’s Seb Rochford who stepped in for Chris Vatalaro. Roberts has a very expressive sound on the alto saxophone: she can do searing rough stuff with a bluesiness, or she can blow the harmony out of the water just as much, challenging pianist Robert Mitchell to respond diatonically or just through compose some sort of apposite harmonic episode.

Rochford suits Roberts’ style: he can just chip away at all the offbeats and pick up the nuances of the implied beats and the direction of Roberts’ writing, while Tom Mason managed to resist the temptation to create distracting grooves, instead pulsing wave after wave of leading phrases. Roberts has the ability to make very abstract sounds human: a warm wind is blowing right in your face; the first set climaxed with ‘Exchange’, also featured on the upcoming record and which dates back to Roberts’ studio debut for the label The Chicago Project. The audience, which included members of the mighty Led Bib and alto sax heavyhitter Jason Yarde, understandably lapped it up. 

– Stephen Graham