Au Revoir Simone: Live at Bush Hall
Words by David Axbey
Slumped on the sofa with my keyboard and a king hell bastard of a cold for company, last week’s Au Revoir Simone gig seems far, far distant, like a childhood holiday. But I do remember waiting, crossed-legged on Bush Hall’s carpeted floor holding a little plastic cup of warm Pepsi. It was a long wait since the support – Cortney Tidwell, a Nashville singer-songwriter with a fine voice and theatrical hand gestures – had finished her set, and the natives were getting restless.
So when the three girls from Brooklyn finally stood poised at their banks of keyboards, you could feel the crowd thinking ‘this better be worth it’. And it was. From the moment they launched into ‘All Or Nothing’, it was clear that Erika Forster, Annie Hart and Heather D’Angelo had come to party.
Au Revoir Simone’s sound is the synth-pop equivalent of a shaft of sunlight hitting a summer lawn, but with the drum machines cranked up you also had something that the indie kids could move their feet to. Expecting the introverted performance of a few years back, this all-dancing, all-smiling Au Revoir Simone was a revelation.
“I hope you’re not shy, ‘cos we’ve got over that”, Erika told us when exhorting audience participation – that’d be vaguely rhythmical clapping – during the folksy ‘Take Me As I Am’. Indeed they have; and it’s surprising just how well the trio’s pure vocals and wispy electronica translate to a live set. Most of the evening’s tunes came from new album ‘Still Night, Still Light’, including the melancholy ‘Shadows’, disco-tinged ‘Another Likely Story’ and woozy, organ-rich single ‘King of Wands’. However, there was also a welcome smattering of older songs, with ‘Bird Of Music’ favourites ‘The Lucky One’ and ‘Dark Halls’ saved for the inevitable encore. “So let the sun shine”. Selah.
Posted Wed, May 13, 2009