You’re Messing With My Art

The Tiny Dancing team were all out in force last Thursday to see the very lovely Jim Noir play us some very lovely songs at The Borderline. If Jim hasn’t yet crossed your path, I can do no better job of describing his music than the two quotes on the sticker that comes on his debut Tower Of Love album (really a collection of his first 3 EP’s) – "Sun dappled soft psyche…irresistible"... "Luscious but simple... sure to bring a smile to the face". It’s got a hint of 60’s psychedelia, a touch of the Super Furry Animals (who he recently supported) and a dab of good old fashioned English whimsy.

Jim ambled on to the stage sporting a bobble hat and guitar and announced straight off the bat that he hadn’t played with the band for a while so they might be a bit rusty... but no-one minded; part of the gig’s charm was its slightly shambolic nature. The Borderline is a fairly ‘intimate’ venue, only holding a couple of hundred people, so it’s a bit like having your funny mate round to your house to play some nice tunes.

The gig seemed mostly a chance to try out new material from the forthcoming proper album – I quite like gigs like these; even though the audience doesn’t know most of the material we felt kinda privileged to be the first to hear it. They kicked off with recent(ish) single All Right, which features some nice vocoder action, and moved through some new stuff – all interspersed with some merry Mancunian banter and the frequent sight of Jim turning to his band and asking them what exactly it was that he was supposed to be playing next – but rather sweetly ("Come on then, let’s get this over with...") didn’t neglect to include Eanie Meany, his biggest hit following its use on a certain sportswear giants advert a couple of years back.

After about ten songs they wrapped things up ("this is our last song tonight… no, really... it’s the last one, we haven’t got any more...") and got a well deserved five minutes of applause and entreaties from the crowd for an encore, but alas it was not to be and I drifted into the cold London night warmed only by the memory of the night and several glasses of rum. Jim is nothing if not generous though, and you can go to the media section of his new website here and watch the brilliant video for All Right, plus My Patch, Eanie Meany, Key Of C and more. Not only that but All Right is being streamed on his myspace and is available for download for a reasonable sum from the usual places.

In the meantime here are two of my favourites from Tower Of Love to get you in the mood, Key Of C and the eponymous title track, which is particularly gorgeous I think you’ll find. Once you’ve been convinced that owning the album will brighten your life, get it from here.



Jim Noir – Key Of C

Jim Noir – Tower Of Love


Finally a mention of the slightly bizarre fact that having studiously avoided going to any of my mate Steve’s gigs for the best part of 4 years, it turned out after I’d bought the Jim Noir tickets that his band were supporting him. I won’t review them because I don’t want to be accused of nepotism but I will mention that a quick chat soon revealed that Mr Noir’s bonhomie is no stage act. "What’s he like backstage?" asked I. "Lovely bloke" came the reply.


Crisp Debris


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