Jane Weaver looks for the joy in nature as she brings Love in Constant Spectacle to The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

​She’s taken in everything from alternative-rock to electronica via folk and psych.

And with her new album Love in Constant Spectacle she continues to probe her own way through the musical cosmos – without ever losing sight of the melody at the heart of the songs. This is her 12th solo album, without counting earlier bands and side-projects.

Usually self-producing, for Love... – she turned to producer and musician John Parish, who is probably best known for his work with PJ Harvey.

“I decided that I didn't want to repeat the last album, or albums,” explains the Manchester-based performer, “and I didn't want to do anything conceptual or in the same studios, so I just wanted to record the way everyone else does - go into a studio and record for a couple of weeks, rather than me chipping away at it for two-three years!

“I spoke to John, mid/late ’22, then it was me writing, and we recorded at the end of March/April 2023. Everything happened quite quickly with someone who's very organised – which John is! We went to (renowned studios) Rockfield and to Invada and John's studio as well, it was a really good experience.”

However, the album was put together against the backdrop of Jane’s father falling ill and dying. How did that play into its creation?

“Perhaps subconsciously, and perhaps that's why I wanted to work with someone else – there was so much going on in my personal life and family life, that still trying to be a musician and tour and do the things you have to do, but there was this monumental personal thing parallel to that.

“It did have an influence, but I didn't particularly want to write directly about it. I didn't want to write all about myself, so I chose to do it as me thinking about it as different characters and in different scenarios as a way of distancing myself.”

Weaver’s songs are often in the first person, but as she says: “My husband said to me the other day that he could be really offended about some of the things I say (in songs), but I don't even think about it like that – it's art. I've had boyfriends before who thought I was writing about them and got paranoid, but I don't know what I'm writing about!”

When writing she would also randomise and translate her lyrics – akin to the cut-up methods used by Bowie and Burroughs.

“It's not something I've done much of before – it was another way of distancing myself from my own words. I would cut and paste them and mix them all up and try to get some sense out of them.”

One technique Jane used was to run lyrics through Google translate into another language, and then back into English.

“When you watch a subtitled film you think, ‘they're not saying that.’ It's that slightly different interpretation or it’s a bit reductive. If you flip something back and forward from east to west or whatever, it does change the nuance of what you're trying to say and I found that really interesting. I think a lot of writers do it, but I'd never it before.”

Mortality and fragility feature as themes throughout the album too.

One of the album’s standout tracks, Univers, features the opening line: “Don't blame me, it's the universe that's wrong.”

"It was about when things happened that were bad,” she explains, “whether it was personal or whatever, or completely out of your control and you're like, don't blame me, it's just the universe.

“I was reading a Buddhist thing a while ago, and they said you shouldn't think, ‘urgh, all these bad things are happening to me’, you should be thinking that these things just happen to everyone in a universal context. I was trying to process things that were going on that weren't nice.”

And as she says of its title track: “Love in Constant Spectacle is about looking for the small things in nature and the small things that make you happy.

“Those big bold gestures or whatever... when something quite monumental is happening like a loved one is seriously ill, you feel in a state of anxiety all the time, you have to think to yourself, things are still fine – you can look out the window and see the birds in the trees, and it's ok really.”

The tour supporting the album is now underway, but one thing Weaver was looking forward to ahead of the live shows was getting back to playing more guitar live again.

"Another reason I wanted to work with a producer is because I know how I work in the studio and there are certain things I do to make 'my' sound, but I also wanted to do something that was a bit more guitar-based and a bit simpler to do live without backing tracks and whatever.

"I'm not against backing tracks, but just something sonically simpler. I usually collage a lot of my sound so it is quite a big sound, but I always love the way John does things – he gets a big sound, but if you listen you can still hear the instrumentation, and that's what I wanted on this record.”

Jane Weaver is supported by halo Maud is at The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea on April 30, doors 7.30pm. Tickets £22. Go to wedgewood-rooms.co.uk.

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