Sophie Koh, Grand Salvo @Fowlers Live, Adelaide(19/10/08)

Thu 23rd Oct, 2008 in Gig Reviews

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It was an early start at Fowlers on Sunday evening. I arrived a little before nine expecting to catch both sets, however Grand Salvo was already most of the way through his. Not to mention that Tim Reid (who also plays in Koh’s band) played a brief set before him. It’s the first time I’ve heard of an opening act hitting the stage before 8pm!
Anyway, I did catch the last few songs by Paddy Mann, singing his mellow, soulful tunes whilst displaying no emotion whatsoever. One lyric I caught made me crack a smile: “genitals shrink when you jump in the drink/pupils dilate when it’s dark and late”; yet he maintained his blank expressionless face reminding me of a less gawky version of Elliot Goblet. I really enjoyed the last few songs of his set and wish I had arrived earlier.

I should also point out that the band room at Fowlers was decked out with tables and chairs, I’d never seen it in cabaret mode before. I guess it was due to lack of ticket sales, as I conducted a quick headcount to discover there were only thirty people in the venue. I assume the furniture was used to bulk out the room a little, making it look a little less empty.

Despite the lack of crowd, Sophie Koh and her band were unfazed and delivered an incredible set. In fact, she seemed to embrace it, conversing with her bandmates and the audience to generate an intimate vibe that you’d usually expect only at smaller venues. At times the crowd was so silent you could’ve heard a pin-drop, which for some of her songs was the ideal atmosphere.

They kicked off their set with the title track off the new album All Shook Up, followed by its lead single Objects in This Mirror. J Walker’s influence was immediately recognisable with layered samples, requiring drummer Phil Collings (yes, Collings not Collins) to wear headphones whilst maintaining rhythm.

Koh and her band continued with a mix of old and new songs, some of which she played acoustic guitar, others she jumped behind the keyboard and some she sang sans instrument. At the same time Reid was swapping instruments, playing mainly keyboards, then sometimes joining Koh out front on electric guitar and occasionally standing behind a laptop. One thing I found about her set was that it’s impossible to pigeonhole her music. One minute I was thinking “yeah, this is sounding like Holly Throsby, but with a more powerful voice” the next I was feeling the vibe of Tori Amos, and then the next it felt like she was channelling Angie Hart or Bjork. I thought her set was constructed flawlessly, each song lead into the next, yet no two songs felt the same and there was never a dull moment.

Halfway through the set she kicked her band off the stage to play a solo version of Honey I Will Buy You a Mercedes Benz and then she played her breathtaking version of Radiohead’s Creep. Her vocals during the falsetto middle-eight of that song were absolutely incredible.
Koh’s band re-joined her on stage and they played a few more new songs followed by her big single Anywhere. They rounded out the set with another old song, Fall Into Space and finished with her version of a Chinese song Gan Lan Shu (Olive Tree) which she introduced by telling us it was a song that her mother used to sing at karaoke. Apparently Walker convinced her to record it on her new album as he can speak a little mandarin and thought it would be an excellent idea to include it. Given the story that she told us at the show I certainly agree with him and also think it was a great way to end the night.

As for the lack of crowd – Adelaide, you truly missed out on a great performance.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE