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Emiliana Torrini + Clue To Kalo Fowlers Live, Thurs 1 Dec The healthy size of the crowd that had gathered for this show was a bit of a surprise to me. Then again, given the quality of Emiliana Torrini's songcraft, I shouldn't have been surprised at all. After all, this is the woman who sang Gollum's Song in 'The Two Towers' and wrote Kylie Minogue's Slow. Support act Clue To Kalo seem destined for great things. They've already received a swagload of positive reviews around the world for their latest CD, 'One Way, It's Every Way', and have probably received more attention in the United States than they have back home in Adelaide, but that situation will soon be reversed given the crowd's appreciation of the ambitious efforts of Mark Mitchell and Co. Clad in an almost diaphanous dress, Emiliana Torrini has a kind of innocent and enchanting air about her, like an endearing cross between Joanna Newsom and Bjšrk (there must be something inherently captivating about Icelanders...). She has a reserved, accented manner of speaking, so all the more reason for the crowd's reverent silence. Particularly in the first half of the set, the audience was so quiet you could hear the ceiling fans going. Indeed, Torrini later noted that it was so silent that it was a like a library. "But like a fun library," she qualified. Torrini is a supreme entertainer, because of her charm, and also because of the hilarious tales she weaves. Although at the back of your mind you know she's told these stories countless times before, she still manages to make it seem spontaneous. She followed singing the wonderful version of Today Has Been OK (with an excellent, if quiet, backing band) by relating a hilarious but violent story involving blood and a boyfriend before she launched into a song that would be one of the least violent songs ever written, Lifesaver. There were other wonderful stories too, of travelling to the US to work with Smog's Bill Callaghan and other adventures. The highlight of the night was the midset rendition of At Least It Was. The long lead out, with her voice blending in with the finger picked guitars will stand out in my memory for a very long time to come.  |
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