Catherine Traicos @ The GraceEmily, Adelaide (30/10/09)

Thu 12th Nov, 2009 in Gig Reviews

A gorgeous if slightly premature summer evening greeted the familiar stage of the Grace Emily last Friday night. Darts was popular as usual, but with the weather as it was, it was quite funny to find the inside of the venue relatively quiet compared to the buzzing crowds out front and back. Nevertheless, Sydney songstress *Catherine Traico*s was in the house to kick the evening’s proceedings off, continuing her recent tour which has seen her cross the Nullarbor on more than one occasion.

Her set began with a few solo numbers to a slowly building number of followers. Seated behind her keyboard, Traicos appeared comfortable as she delivered a series of simple, stripped back songs from her second album The Amazing… Her vocals shared a similar style to Cat Power on her cover’s record, less intensely emotional but equally silky. If indeed shyness of a quality of hers as her online biography suggests, then the solitude it must afford her lends itself to a very dapple writing style. Her songs are personal and subtly delivered, which to be honest seemed to struggle to overcome the drone of the front bar in the back ground on occasions. Watching her though, this didn’t seem to be a problem and for those paying attention she set a brilliant mood to the warmth of the night in those early songs.

Changing it up halfway through to an acoustic guitar and bass ensemble, the set continued in much the same vein but with a little more pep. Again, the songs made for very easy listening with the bass lending a bit of a bopping rhythm to her more upbeat offerings. Where many acoustic acts can’t resist the temptation to periodically bash their audience over the head with a loud wail or raw sounding solo, Traicos stuck to the sincerity of her sound. I kept waiting for the set to really take off for at least one track, but upon reflection I’m glad it didn’t because it would have seemed out of character.

Catherine is a quietly striking performer on the stage. Again this has a very subtle effect on the set, but if you happen to be watching closely she’s got an almost vulnerable look about her, which lends itself to many of her lyrics which often question when her love will return to her, be it a person or just the feeling.

It’s hard to imagine another venue in Adelaide where this show would not have got lost amongst the evenings events, which is testament to both the Grace and whoever booked her in that night, which I believe was her manager Gawain who was pottering about the room making sure all was well for the majority of the night. For mine, Catherine is the sort of performer where you really need to connect to her mood to understand the depth of what’s going on in the show otherwise it’s easy to just see a two piece on the stage and walk past. To those who took the time to listen, Friday offered a rewarding set leaving an enticing flavour in the mouth with those long summer night gigs just around the corner.