JEN DOBSON
Club 43, Northampton
March 5th
A Northampton university graduate, Jen Dobson is a folk artist that has been playing now for seven years. I first saw her perform before I started university on an open day, giving me great inspiration. Here she performs a heart-wrenching and emotional four songs; ‘A14’, ‘I Got You’, ‘Mess’ and ‘Jesus Loves My Girlfriend’. All four songs talk about real life matters such as friendship, religion and the issues faced in modern day. She speaks out strongly about LBGTQ+ subjects. This performance incorporates great audience participation, getting everyone to sing along and have themselves a lively and entertaining night.
The first song ‘A14’ starts off with spoken lines, which really puts you in the song and makes it easy to relate to. The way the song is presented feels very intimate, the vocals making it feel like you’re having a heart to heart with your friend. As the song hits the chorus it speeds up and Jen began to encourage the audience to sing “get me on the A14 with you in my passenger seat” and used this to ad-lib for the rest of the song that got everyone to join in and have a good time. Second song ‘I Got You’ shows real emotion and heartbreak as the lyrics come across again as very personal and intimate. The song content talks about being there for friends and gives a strong message. ‘Mess’ talks about serious issues but has an upbeat, fun sound – though the lyrical content talks about self-destructive behaviour. Closing song ‘Jesus Loves My Girlfriend’ talks about being both religious and being part of the LBGTQ+ community, confronting people’s opinions on that. The lyrics “Jesus loves my girlfriend just as much as your son” shows the negative affect people opinions may have and how it is unfair to discriminate based on sexuality.
Dobson’s songs are very touching and emotional; they make you feel like she is personally talking to you and contains a lot of feeling. If you have ever felt that you are going through a rough patch these songs are definitely relatable.
Katie Montford
https://www.facebook.com/jendobsonmusic
https://bandcamp.com/jendobsonmusic
