Jesse Sheehan

Saturday, April 11

I may have jumped the gun a tad, when I reviewed Jesse Sheehan’s last EP but it’s only because I care. It was obvious there, and in early performances – and then far more clear in seeing him as part of Neil Finn’s band – that this young guy has something; has, in fact, that ‘X-factor’. Though we’d all surely run a mile from that term now, such is its taint.

Sheehan is actually pretty mind-blowing – and my concerns were that I would have hated his hint of a rockabilly shuffle to be co-opted and bland-splattered down into a Willy Moon grotesque or even an earnest Jake Bugg-like thing.

For he has something special.

That was certainly evident at this Bon Voyage gig at Wellington’s MOON. Jesse is off to hang in the UK for a bit, I should think we’ll be hearing big things from and about him in the next 12-15 months. He takes with him at least one band member and a Neil Finn-produced solo debut record. He takes with him far more than that though – the potential and, it would seem, the promise of truly great things.

Sheehan’s current three-piece format allows him to be the star that he so likely is – switching between guitars and keys, ably supported with on-the-mark bass and drums. There was a liveliness to this trio – a little bit of the rockabilly-meets-punk edge – and then, out of nowhere,  right in the middle of a smart wee pop-rock song, Sheehan unloaded the sort of guitar solo that could be studied in a class; the sort that might sell instructional videos, a jaw-dropping feat of furious guitar that was never even close to indulgent and always exceptional and wonderful.

This is the something that Sheehan has – a big part of the something anyway. He can – always – surprise you. Peg him down as singer/songwriter and he’ll unleash a solo that almost inexplicably references 80s-Jeff Beck while never alienating his Twitter followers.

If that’s not enough of a magic trick, he can effortlessly switch to singing a perfect La Vie En Rose (no, seriously) solo at the keys. The spirit of Tim Buckley is there in some of the chord-shapes and voicings in his songs. But this Edith Piaf cover, explained away, almost apologetically, at the end of the set as being something he’d listened to a lot during the recording of his own album, was like when Jeff Buckley would drop jaws with his Nina Simone covers, with his referencing of the Qawwali singing style.

Sheehan has some of that magic-trick about him. But all around him – in his own songs, in his presentation of them, in his band, in the sound they usher, is some spirit of rock’n’roll and  the soul of a serious-minded singer/songwriter. Someone who has, already, done the work. But fronts up every day, bright eyed, bushy tailed, bursting with not only enthusiasm but ideas. So eager to further improve and with so much already to prove.

It was a farewell show. A taut set, a teaser as much as anything. Just a taste. He’s 22 years old…it almost felt like a goddamn motherfucking masterclass.

The most refreshing, revitalising revelation of a live set I’ve seen in years.