Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Some will insist on calling such events magic, a charmed dreamlike beginning in which the artist is revealed in the fullness of time; and yet magic does not begin to cover the thrilling bewitchment that Jade Thunder places the listener within as she releases her new album on the unsuspecting and the mesmerised.
Magic is one thing, the knowledge of chemistry, the application of binding elements, the key to breath-taking miracles, lays in the possessor and practitioner of Alchemy, and it is to be sure an occurrence that is rare, it is conclusive, and it is to be cherished as one would value life.
The road to inner peace begins with expression, of finding the power to live a life in balance. It is not so much a spell weaved, conjured out of the elements of the air, it is an emotion felt, understood, and shared, and for Jade Thunder it is the result of wonderous potential realised and presented to an awaiting audience.
Alchemy is not just an expression, or an album title, it is the resonance of emotions experienced, perhaps suffered, mostly caressed with the glide of a mother’s loving hand, and across tracks such as Perfectly Imperfect, Pills, Cleanse Me, Loving In Sin, the brilliance of Forgiven, the heart borne effect of Storm and (Quiet), as well as the album’s title track, Alchemy, Jade Thunder, along with the persuasion of elemental manipulation of the air to be found in the inclusion of David Crilly, Gary Murphy, Glyn Williams, Bill Roxby, the superb Amy Chalmers, Maria Alan, Martin Byrne, Howard Jacobs, Pete Turner and the commander of the bow Vicky Reid, create a storm of beauty, they create the fundamental belief in chemistry; and it is a chemistry that is enduringly charismatic and sensual.
We have lived through a period of collective trauma, we have found ourselves wondering, even if we don’t admit it, that we have felt ourselves become somewhat intangible to what binds us to the Earth, but in the magnetism of a voice, in the sheer appeal of music, we find we have reasons to believe in magic, we have the thunder in our ears and the lightning bolt of fascination ready to hit us directly in our heart and give us love.
A superb album, a recording of resonating emotion; magic is one thing, Alchemy is where the realwonder is to be found.
Ian D. Hall