So what do you do? You read a brilliant album review in The Sunday Times (probably the best review of the year from this respected broadsheet), you email the artist concerned in the States and receive the album (and discover that The Sunday Times was right for a change), and then you find out that within days she's in Europe on tour. You make sure she performs in a venue in your town, that's what you do! Jennifer Terran's album has received the sort of acclaim worldwide that many 'well known' female artists would die for. THE MUSICIAN is an extraordinary album (which has won our hard fought accolade of 'album of the year') but as a live performer she's an unknown quantity in the UK. So tonight we created the opportunity to 'suck it and see' at Wrexham's Central Station acoustic night after, of course, getting Terran and her soul mate/double bass player, Brendon Staton, to record a live session for student radio in the nearby and superb University studio. Supporting Terran tonight are two of Wrexham's finest acoustic acts. Mooi are a delightful female pop duo while Matt Nicholls is the lead singer for local band the Benjamins, and one of the finest male blues/soul soloists around at the moment - anywhere. Completing tonight's show are two young men who are participating in the regular 'open mic' session. So a full and inspiring evening of music is in prospect.

Jennifer Terran & Brendon Statom
Picture this: My habitual early morning visit to the local Spar to get The Sunday Times. Over coffee and my first cigarette of the day, my usual visit to the Culture Section and album reviews. Pop CD Of The Week is an artist who is totally unknown to me. The review of Jennifer Terran's THE MUSICIAN is just a bit special. and immediately I get onto the Internet and bingo!

Within minutes I've sent Terran an email asking for a copy of the album (which is on her own label) and venture a few questions about the album. By that afternoon an email comes flying back with answers and advice that she is packing for her first European tour, and is literally about to depart for the airport. Within a couple of days I have the album and, by common consent, it tops our albums of the year list. By the end of the following week, we have booked Terran to perform at our local live venue! And today she's here. Pretty amazing heh! I would suggest that because Terran records on her own label, without major record label baggage and barriers, things like this are possible (when will record companies learn?).

Terran agrees to record some songs for student radio and I get my first chance to see what she's like live. But before we visit the North East Wales Instute (NEWI) magnificent recording studio, we have time (or so I thought) for a quick visit to Chester where she shows a great interest in churches and Roman Walls. I realise we have about ten minutes to travel twelve miles back to Wrexham and NEWI in the dreaded Chester rush hour. We arrive somewhat late but intact and Terran is delighted to find an acoustic piano in the studio. I notice that she's almost obsessive about the whole recording process; a perfectionist. Taking photos of her during the recording process means that I don't get the full impact of what she's doing. So I retreat to the control room and wow! The studio engineer is impressed in a way that I have yet to witness. What you get on record is what you get live plus the realisation of just how important Brendon Statom's double bass role is in Terran's music. She is a pretty, petite lady with bright brown eyes, black hair and a name that could be Italian?

I discover later that she is in fact half-Italian (something she shares with one of our other favourite female artists, the UK's Carina Round - and me!). There's an instinctive interaction between Terran and Statom as they perform - they seem to communicate without communicating, if you get my drift. After about an hour of preparation, Terran and Statom dive into the final recording session with a scorching twenty-minutes of uninterrupted play which knocks us all sideways. Session completed, we dash over to the venue for a very late (and very long) sound-check that is completed just before the first act is due on stage.

The moment arrives; Terran's first live performance in front of a UK audience (she had performed an acoustic set for BBC Radio London the previous day). She appears somewhat tentative but I also get the feeling that this tension is integral to her performance style; a necessary ingredient. As Statom stands in the shadows, towering over his huge 3/4 size double bass, Terran sits over her Yamaha keyboard welcoming and thanking the audience for attending, and then launches into a song from the new album, Skating. I was warned beforehand that there is no set list and so Statom has to wait for an announcement or rely on that rather magical telepathy. While certain stringed instruments are missing from the performance of this song, it nevertheless works beautifully with delicate keyboard work, expressive bass and that high octave, gentle Terran vocal. It's a low key start which captivates the audience completely. A highlight from her new album follows in the shape of Mad Magdaline. Terran explains the anti-record industry sentiments behind the song and advises the supporting musicians that it is possible to survive without record label support, and that she's living proof along with many others. Simple keyboard notes accompany an almost talking pace vocal before the bass comes into play. It's an epic and complex musical narrative with huge melody and performed with great passion. Terran's voice wanders through the narrative with enormous expression as she pleads, rebukes, and warns Mr Recordman about what is to happen to him. It brings the house down.

Next up is a song from her previous album CRUEL called L.A. 101, which she explains is about masturbation......During the performance of the song, there are spells when she sings through a small megaphone into the mic which gives the most frightening and incredible sound. The audience are stunned and amazed. Another song from the album follows called Kitty, I Can't Stand It. Terran loves her cat and the song is simply a conversation with it - mundane you would think but not with this lady performing it! The nature and development of Terran's music over the years translates into an amazing diversity of content but what is clear is that THE MUSICIAN is a more structured and cohesive piece of work.

Two of the most moving highlights of this amazing performance is another rendition from CRUEL called YNOT, and the beautiful, epic Liberty Lunch (from the new album). Terran talks comfortably and easily with the audience and exhibits a sharp sense of humour. One of the funniest moments was when she took us through a guided tour of the dolls, Barbie and Ken, to which she had added extra hair and enlarged male genitalia. She explained that the 'beaver' on her Barbie was in fact real Beaver hair. But it had a serious purpose and it was that dolls such as these are designed along the lines of perceived 'bodily perfection' which is peddled by the media and manufacturing, with little regard for the real world and the victims created. There was also a sneaked comment on how good Brendon looked naked which was answered by a wry smile from the subject of the comment.

This was a long performance and Terran invited people to come chat during a fifteen minute break It was then back to business and I noticed a distinct raising of the emotional levels in this concluding part of the performance. Three songs became four songs became five songs and the audience just would not let Terran and Statom off the hook. All songs were from THE MUSICIAN and included the tantalising Unconditional Love and Terran playing her finger drum on the unusual and beguiling Sticky Sweet 8 To 5. The performance finished appropriately with Santa's Secret which uses a tradional Christmas hymn as a backdrop. With this Terran promised to come back next Spring.

It's always hard to find words for a performance such as this. The magical way the shadowy Statom dropped straight into whatever Terran was doing without missing a beat; it took just a look, a small sign, a chord. The magical way Terran hooked into her audience and took them with her through over an hour and half of quite extraordinary music. The magical way she sang and expressed sentiments which are obviously personal, special and swept us along in an emotional tide. The magical way she combined several generic influences in her music. The magical way these quite exceptional and major artists played like kings in a tiny kingdom. It was well past midnight when they finally left the venue after talking at length with the other supporting artists and audience members.

The word I'm looking for of course is, 'magical'.