Katy Steele, Jen Cloher @ ThePlayhouse, Melbourne (1/08/09)

Tue 4th Aug, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Kudos to FReeZA Central for getting Katy Steele and Jen Cloher on board. Emotive and inspiring, their music climbed into the back of your throat and held your tonsils hostage giving you the feeling new parents must get when their offspring does something cute.

Jen Cloher’s, honest, mother-earth sounding vocals washed over the audience. Mick Hubbard from Jen Cloher & The Endless Sea accompanied her on stage. The two guitars together created an organic, earthy tone like a soft undercurrent to Jen’s tender lyrical melodies.

Delivering stories about familiar emotions you can relate to – ‘my love is a game that no one else can play so there’s nothing left in loving me’ – Jen’s voice was like comfort food for the soul.

The songs had a steady building tide of instrumental and vocal unity. Her music was unassumingly polished. Even in her cover of Love Hurts (not the Nazareth version as she joked at the time) her voice was like the comforting pressure of a loved one in bed beside you.

Rain began with the mellow whisperings of Jen’s voice and gathered the support of gentle vocal harmonies from Mick as the song progressed. Fear is Like a Forest from Jen Cloher & The Endless Sea’s new album showcased a stronger vocal tone, then some beautifully breathy do do dos. Hidden Hands, the title track to their new album, was a touchingly emphatic expression about finding your way through life.

This soothing performer confessed the civilised venue reminded her of her time at NIDA, and admitted she had sweaty palms. But, as she was wearing a nice dress, she had nowhere to wipe them, and joked that she was trapped in a NIDAmare.

Jen thanked Sophia Katos for her guest performance and admitted she had been intimidated by her talent and energy on stage. It is true Sophia was committed to an energetic performance: a big voice, a big smile and a big appetite for entertaining. However, it was startling and a bit ironic that she so matter-of-factly galvanised the formal theatre mood while the other artists, though their music was more suited to the low-key environment, were decidedly ill-at-ease. However, their music styles are so different that it is useless trying to compare them to one another.

Katy Steele began with a quick hello before rushing through her first two songs, then stopping to admit that she was a tad intimidated in the quiet formality of The Playhouse. She made great use of the distorting microphone throughout her set and moved between the acoustic guitar, electric guitar and the piano, proving that she is powerful as a solo performer both inside and outside Little Birdy.

Relapse was belted out with the same strength and passion that made it so popular when it was released back in 2003. However, still feeling slightly put-off by the quiet audience, Katy broke the ice by telling us how Little Birdy had been approached at Splendour in the Grass by a man who wanted to propose to his girlfriend during their set. When Katy went to introduce him to the crowd, she accidentally fumbled over her words, giving away the surprise before he had a chance to pop the question. This girly self-consciousness seemed to help endear her to the crowd

She moved to the piano for Now The Rain Is Falling. She said the audience might not know it but the fans in the crowd responded by cheering and when she started playing, it became obvious why it had elicited such an enthusiastic response. It was the kind of song you want to play on repeat and mime along to like Renee Zellweger did to Celine Dion’s All By Myself in the opening scene of Bridget Jones’s Diary. It is a powerful ballad imparted through soaring vocal dynamics that capture that knot-in-your-chest feeling of not knowing whether to scream and sob as loud as you can or sit and cry silently.

Baby Love was a darker track with haunting piano keys entwined with lusty lyrics – ‘try yourself with me, I am easy to persuade’. Katy introduced Beautiful To Me as a good song to sing along too and although a few people obliged, getting a clap going was more successful.

Port of Call had a cheeky moment where the lyrics described walking the streets afterwhich she quickly mumbled into the second microphone, ‘not in that way’.

After asking the audience whether they like to know what the songs are about, she began to explain It’s all my fault, but stopped instead saying, ‘actually, don’t worry about it’, obviously she is better at explaining herself through song.

Hairdo and her cover of Do Right Woman had some of that rock-chick attitude seeping out into the quiet civility of The Playhouse. Last song Brother was a heartfelt track about learning to be the person you are, but Katy kept it light, joking while playing, ‘where is Paul Kelly when you need him?’.

This petite person has a huge booming voice and a cute performer’s temperament, not taking herself too seriously and tried to encourage the crowd to do the same despite the formality of the venue.

Her voice moved with ease from whispering soprano to earth moving alto and although she sped through the start of her set and was obviously quite nervous, her performance was not compromised.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE