Angie Hart, the teen star of Frente, is Australia’s darling of pop music who sound-tracked the early 1990’s across the nation’s televisions and airwaves; notching up considerable accolades along the way including ARIA success.
The ‘child star’ is a pigeon hole that is hard to escape from, and is a label that is always hard to shake off like a proverbial monkey from your back. For many, it has proved to be a burden too hard and heavy to carry. Thankfully, Angie has remained grounded throughout the fallout of Frente and for the past 15 years has honed her skills as a singer/songwriter. There were inevitable brief lapses of direction and sideline projects, paths and tangents to follow, including Frente reunions and Buffy slaying along the way. Though she has returned, finding good form like a phoenix from the Frente flames.
Bennetts Lane Jazz Club, hidden in the underbelly of laneways in Melbourne’s CBD, is a venue undeniably suited to Angie’s sultry vocal talents. The room is small with a low ceiling and even lower lighting befitting of the typical jazz club image one might have in mind. The room gradually filled to standing room only capacity as the two support acts, both piano/acoustic guitar duos, attempted to captivate the audience’s attention. The beautiful Angie Hart and her well groomed four-piece band were promoting the recently released, critically acclaimed debut album Grounded Bird. A quirky piece of well crafted pop music. It has been a long time in the making with a few self proclaimed hurdles in its development – so it must be a joy to finally have it released, and to be proudly touring it to rapturous sell out crowds.
The gig – right from the start – seemed, as I am sure much of the tour has been, almost cathartic for Angie, like a shedding of skin and returning home, literally and proverbially, to Australia and what she loves doing and does so well; singing live. The passion is still obviously there, albeit cocooned in a slightly nervous energy to start the gig. It is a far cry from the large stages she will no doubt remember performing.
This small intimate setting suited the occasion faultlessly. Though, it took Angie a little while to relax under the glare of the blinding lights. It was with her second song and her single ‘Care’ that she appeared more confident and removed herself from the spot she was rooted to. She continued to follow through her repertoire of new songs – some with more resonance and passion than others. The catchy single ‘Cold Heart Killer’ didn’t fail to translate to the live performance as it bounced along hooking in an eager audience. Other songs that shone out amongst a set that in places tended to sound just a little same-same, ‘My Thief’, and the haunting and slightly hypnotic ‘Asleep’, the opener for the new album (all credit to the drummer who sang live the daunting task of some rather high rolling notes in the chorus!).
The ironically titled ‘My Year of Drinking’ was pre-empted with a story of the songs less than revelatory significance in Angie’s past that has been well documented over the years. Unfortunately, the interim song banter was thin on the ground for such a nice intimate venue, she had already self confessed early on in the gig that “[She] started the tour with loads of stories to tell, but by Cronulla [she] ran out”. Perhaps a sign of gig fatigue helped explain that, at times, the performance did look slightly formulaic on her part. The band were incredible and at times carried the songs completely. They were tight without sounding studio production airtight.
It’s a tough market out there right now with a plethora of other quirky songbirds blazing trails such as Sarah Blasko and Kate Miller-Heidke. So I very much look forward to seeing what else Angie is inspired to write about in the future to set herself apart from the pack. Let’s hope it is as equally gorgeous as Grounded Bird.
