Alfie Jukes Coming Out of The Shade at Hyde Park Book Club
Written and Edited by Eve Moat
‘Sitting Pretty’ in the basement of HPBC on 20th April was Alfie Jukes, a Brighton-born 21 year-old singer-songwriter, who I would be unsure how you couldn’t love him. With mellow vocals but impactful lyrics, it’s hard to not get lost in the emotions within each track and consider your own feelings and personal experiences in relation to his words.
On tour for his recently released EP Sitting Pretty, his tour date in Leeds was one of eight shows promoting his newest project in the UK and Ireland. Fittingly, his opening track for the night was the song of the same name, and set the relaxed tone for the evening. Despite this tone, many of the tracks also got the audience dancing, swaying and of course singing along.
Moving forwards through his set, after introductions and encouragement from the singer, he played the track ‘Traffic Jams’ – arguably my favourite from his entire discography. The melody is catchy and meshes beautifully with his vocals. I feel like many fans can resonate with the lyrics in this song: “I like that you like that I like you” being an overcomplicated way of saying “I like you”, showing how its so easy to overthink things and you have to break down the barriers in your brain to be able to open up to someone, whether it’s about attraction, difficult feelings or simply everyday thoughts.
‘Not Quite Gone’ came shortly after with its heavy basslines and choral-sounding adlibs and backing vocals. This was directly followed by another fan favourite ‘Slow Lane’, originally recorded with Lexie Carroll. This track sits on the Little Omens EP, which has many amazing tracks belonging to it.
Another favourite of mine ‘Amsterdam’ got me wanting to visit the Netherlands as an act of escapism, despite the consequences that the individual in question has to face after the decisions they made and their actions they committed to. I believe many young adults can connect to this track, with the feeling of being able to run away to a faraway place and do stupid things becoming ever stronger. However, it also reminds the audience that no matter where you go, no matter how far you run, it won’t actually solve your problems back home: “Amsterdam won’t fix that”.
From here on out, the line-up of tracks was stacked, with every song being a personal favourite for me and the rest of the crowd slowly became more and more enthusiastic as this latter part of the set went on. It may not have been the morning, but if anyone wasn’t paying attention until this point – although I don’t know how you could’ve managed this – the next track would’ve certainly “woke up [their] system like fresh orange juice”. ‘Orange Juice’ is my favourite title for a track, and it certainly lives up to expectation. Accompanying vocals on the studio version of the track by Nell Mescal bring the whole piece together, like a missing piece fitting into a jigsaw puzzle.
Coming towards the encore, Jukes played a newer track called ‘The Shade’, which he confirmed is about a friend that he helped out of some dark times. A melodic track with heart-wrenching lyrics: a beautiful piece. ‘Cigarette’ ended the core show, and left me wanting to ask Alfie a serious question: have you ever smoked a cigarette?
Chants ran through the basement venue for more as a two song encore began to play. ‘Spiderwebs’ left my friend swaying to her heart’s content, and the final track ‘Eyes Wide’, which was the first Alfie Jukes song I ever heard, got everyone singing along. Basslines and vibey vocals radiated through the crowd and made for a wonderful ending to a fun night.
Speaking to Alfie after the show, I could tell how genuine he is and he always has the time for his fans – even if they are a photographer and music journalist. After a very sweet photo together with Alfie, me and my friend danced the night away, meeting our friends for some rocking karaoke – inspired to continue the music into the early hours.
Alfie Jukes is a must see live, and his music deserves so much attention. I would 100% recommend him to anyone.
