Jim James w/ Cold Specks at the Ogden Theater, Denver

Tour Dates 06/14/13 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival 06/15/13 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival 06/18/13 Celebrate Brooklyn! Perf. Arts Fest 06/19/13 Celebrate Brooklyn! Perf. Arts Fest 06/20/13 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon 06/21/13 Northampton, MA Calvin Theater 07/13/13 Forecastle Festival 07/27/13 Newport Folk Festival Read More Jim James No Jacket Required. But Jim James wore one anyway, and a skinny tie, and gave the audience at First Avenue in Minneapolis a sensory-spinning two hour set of Sax …

London-based gothic-gospel band, Cold Specks, played in Denver for the first time in promotion of their debut album, I Predict a Graceful Explosion, out on Mute Records. Marking their third week on tour with headliner, Jim James, they opened to a sold-out crowd at Denver’s Ogden Theater.

COLD SPECKS

Toronto-born frontwoman Al Spx’s vocals are a husky entanglement of pain and haunting undertones. Self-dubbed genre “doom soul”, Spx channels the darker elements of PJ Harvey partnered with the gruffness of Tom Waits and accented with the witching allure of music from the deep South.

Spx assumed the stage clad in an all-black ensemble with matching cape. To hear Spx sing, is to be emotionally tasered, the heart gasps while the lyrics shiver up and down the spine. Spx’s vocals are back dropped by keys, drums, guitar and a variety of horns. Cold Specks played ten songs, which included heart-wrenching hits like: “Blank Maps”, “Elephant Head”, “Holland”, and “Lay Me Down” (a personal favorite). Spx wrapped up her set through a display of what her voice is truly capable of with a cappella number “Old Stepstone”, which left the crowd in glazed awe.

The stark and haunting beauty of Cold Specks was in great contrast My Morning Jacket frontman, and jam-rock legend, Jim James’ subsequent set. On tour in promotion of his debut solo album, Regions of Light and Sound of God, James ascended the stage. Outfitted in a suit and skinny tie and haloed by a dancing kaleidoscope orb of light, James kicked off his set with “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U)”.

James encompasses the definition of a showman

James has perfected his ability to look weightless, by gliding across the stage like he has grease on his heels. On saxophone in “Know Til Now”, James slid across the stage to meet the crowd head-on barking some sultry horn. This was followed by “Dear One”, which included a massive drum solo and James leaping in the air to mimic chest-bumping the drummer. With moppy hair entangling with his beard and hanging over his guitar, James made many stops at jam session station. During set breaks, James imitated Gene Simmons’ tongue stardom moves and had the audience participate in guttural mantras which reverberated off the walls of the Ogden.

Other songs included heartfelt “New Life”, spacey-psych “All is Forgiven”, My Morning Jacket cover “Wonderful (The Way I Feel)”, and uplifting “Of the Mother Again”. James encompasses the definition of a showman; he swooped in, twisted and cooed and the audience ate it up like it was their last supper. What a delicious feast of music.

Jim James at the Ogden Theater, Denver (05/09/13)

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