Øxn review: Work-in-progress feel at first gig for Radie Peat's new group
ØXN performing in the Everyman for the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Picture: Darragh Kane
Lankum's Radie Peat and solo artist Katie Kim linked up for a couple of shows in Dublin and at Cork’s Quiet Lights festival in 2018 and five years later, adding in Percolator pair John ‘Spud’ Murphy, who also produces Lankum, and Eleanor Myler, bring Øxn to the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival on the eve of their debut album CYRM being released.
"It's our first show - we're not nervous at all," Kim tries to reassure as the band shuffle onstage as part of the 'non-jazz' roster at the eclectic festival.
They settle into 'The Feast', one of a couple of her own songs that have been reworked for Øxn. There's a sense of band and crowd alike trying to figure things out over the course of the late-night gig.
Radie Peat leads their cover of Galway singer-songwriter Maija Sofia's 'The Wife of Michael Cleary', a lyrically dense tune that Peat, as is her wont, makes her own and reminds everyone how startling her voice is - it's the sound of generations.
An immersive cover of Scott Walker's 'Farmer in the City' gives way to an oddity of the gig: Because it's a theatre, we're going to take an interval, Peat announces, just about 20 minutes in. It serves to kill the slow-building momentum.
The second half of the show features the two Øxn singles to date, 'Cruel Mother', a traditional song that dates back to the 1800s (theirs is a take on Andy the Doorbum's version, which is only available to hear on Lankum bandmate Ian Lynch's Fire Draw Near podcast), and 'Love Henry', another traditional song, based on the version by Judy Henske.
It’s impossible not to think of Lankum while listening to their doom-laden rearrangements. There's a mix of Portishead, Neu!, and Cocteau Twins all in there too, and those languorous singles mark the high points of the gig.
There are other moments that stand out: Peat and Katie Kim's vocals are beautiful in harmony, Spud's synth and drone interjections feel as if they make the walls shake, while drummer Myler adds in distinct vocals too, when called upon.
But also it is their first full show together as Øxn and they admit they don't have much material to draw on (CYRM is only six tracks long, after all). So their encore consists of two covers, one of which is Billie Eilish's 'Happier Than Ever'. Intriguing but it doesn't quite work, with bouts of laughter shared by the band members.
Whether Øxn go on to achieve as much critical acclaim as Lankum, we'll wait and see. But there's enough special moments to make their debut outing one to remember.
