‘A masterclass in phrasing.’

A stint with Epic Records as an R&B artist did not take Marley Munroe where she needed (or deserved) to be. Now performing under the name ‘Lady Blackbird’, her star is on the rise. Her album Black Acid Soul (2021) – a brooding reimagination of several soul deep cuts – received a rapturous reception, including a five star retrospective review from The Guardian.

Lady Blackbird’s performance at London’s Union Chapel, buoyed by the venue’s wonderful acoustics, was a masterclass in phrasing. Her thrilling voice coos and haunts in its softer moments, but also evokes the rasping power of Betty Davis, Bettye LaVette, and even Tina Turner. She begun the set with a chilling reading of Nina Simone’s civil rights tune ‘Blackbird’, delivering the denouement with a smacking fatalism.

Her ability to carve new meaning out of old material is uncanny. She drew out the anguish of the obscure Sam Cooke song ‘Lost and Looking’, and took the climax of Irma Thomas’ torch song ‘Ruler of My Heart’ to the heights of her vocal. The pin-drop silence of the audience during Lady Blackbird’s more balladic numbers, such as her self-written ‘Five Feet Tall’, was a testament to the intensity and conviction of her delivery.

She often veered from the sparse, minimalist aesthetic which characterises Black Acid Soul, choosing instead to dial in her talented band – Chris Seefried (guitar), Jonny Flaugher (bass), Kenneth Crouch (piano), and Rich Pagano (drums). Her performance of ‘Beware the Stranger’ – a cover of ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’, originally by The Krystal Generation and subsequently covered by the Voices of East Harlem – eschewed the choral arrangement of the studio version in favour of a more propulsive, rock-edged attack. She unlocked the full might of her band on a deliciously psychedelic cover of Jefferson Airplane’s (already psychedelic enough) ‘White Rabbit’. The audience were eating out of the palm of her hand.