SINGLE REVIEW: CHLOE JONES - A GIRL CALLED INDIGO

When Chloe Jones last played London, with two fabulous solo sets in the Green Note Basement, it was "A Girl Called Indigo" that closed out the second set. The evening had already confirmed Chloe's credentials of being a literary geek and this song offered her the chance to create a whole future life with imaginary husband and child which is where "Indigo" comes in.

Musically it has the classic intro for songs like this, where a slow strum sets the scene along with the opening set of lyrics.

"Purple pools of stars in the dark

Hurted evening cast a spell upon my heart

Yearning something I may never hold under the moon

I′m cold, will the story play as it's being told?"

There's a host of things going on in just that intro, with the alliterative "purple pools" and the references to "dark", "evening" and "moon" and Chloe feeling "cold" all go to build up a sense of foreboding. There's hints of "spells" and worries that this is a cruel tease that will never come to pass, the worries littered across English literature

The next verse finishes the set up with Chloe, accepting that this may never happen but if it did .......

"I′m not a mother and I don't know if I'll be

One further down the road

But if I had a daughter I imagine she would be

A girl called Indigo"

The pace by now has quickened, pushed on by gentle yet urgent brush percussion, and the occasional thump of a drum. A bass also adds to the sense of momentum.

The next batch of verses describe Indigo herself, a wonderful idealised picture who could have stepped from the pictures of a childhood book of tales. By now a glorious piano adds a jazz like mood with notes delicately picked out.

"She′d have hair flowing to her knees

It shines like gleaming gold

And then her eyes would be a shade of bluish green

And when she smiles they glow

She′d make me laugh in the way that she would speak

She'd tell me funny jokes

And then we′d wind up in fantastical scenes

Full of fairies, trolls and wizards, bears and wolves"

There is such warmth on display that you can feel Chloe's pride shining through for this fictional infant. The sound has the warmth of strings added

"Oh, my girl would be

Everything I hoped I'd ever be

Oh, the mirror to my soul

And make me whole, make me whole

Oh, my Indigo"

Any fictional child needs a fictional Father,

"And her father, he isn't on the scene

He left us long ago

But he gave her beauty and his confidence was key

To make her embers glow

And when she′s older she'll grow up to be

An explorer, oh so clever, oh so bold

She′d lead the way in ways I only could dream

But she'll keep on coming home

Yes, she'll keep on coming home"

The second chorus is a magnificent combination of instrumentation and vocals

The bridge sees us thrown back from the all things in the future to the current, leaving Chloe to wonder if these things or a version of them will come to pass.

"Time′s ticking on

I'm not gone, I′m not gone

If it's meant to be

One day I′ll know

Until then our fate is fascination, complications

Will I be alone

Or will I know

My Indigo?"

The final four lines suck the energy out of the players to match the now downbeat mood and things almost come to a halt until the word "Indigo" recharges the band and off we go once more for one final take on the chorus.

It's a fabulous little single, well deserving of your attention.

Chloe Jones Yorkshire Tour include dates with the magnificent Macartney Reinhardt - a double bill you will not want to miss if you are able to attend.