At the time the pandemic hit, Jade Jackson had just released her second album, ‘Wilderness’, on Anti- and was shortly to embark on a collaboration with Aubrie Sellers which resulted in the magnificent Jackson + Sellers’ album ‘Breaking Point’ eventually to see the light in 2022.
I’m sure readers here at AUK remember all too well the wrench of being deprived of live music for many months/ years and we know the performers felt it too.
Jackson’s ‘6 Ft Changes’ expresses this sense of loss from a fan’s perspective both in terms of what we were missing and what it had felt like before it was gone.
“We were clapping together like one big heartbeat
And the rhythm connected our souls with our feet
And we stomped and we sang feeling fearless and free
Before we had distance between us.”
Her delivery is full of longing and loss, backed by a mournful guitar part, as she sings the chorus:
“Six feet changes the way it was
Handshakes and hugs in a crowded space
Dancing with strangers and holding up beers
Tapping on shoulders and whispering in ears
Was taken for granted all these years.”
Any of us who remember the rush of the first show after we ventured out again to shows won’t be taking it for granted again. And if we find ourselves forgetting, Jackson’s moving performance – here from the 2021 online SXSW – will serve as a timely reminder.
