Cat Power review: Haunting and desolate music comes from deep inside


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Vivid Live: Cat Power
Opera House Concert Hall, May 31
★★★★


When Chan Marshall – aka Cat Power – first follows her backing musicians into the Concert Hall, she’s greeted by a wash of warmth from the audience. She abruptly spins and exits, stage right. Is that it? It could be, given her reputation for onstage meltdowns and “train wreck” shows.


A shuffling percussive loop repeats and a string quartet plays, biding their time before Marshall returns with a sheaf of lyrics, places them on a stand beside her, and American Flag unfurls. It’s an unsettling slow-burn of a song that sets the mood for what follows.


Marshall is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her breakthrough 1998 album Moon Pix. There’s a skittishness and vulnerability about her and you can almost feel the room willing her to find her centre.


By the chorus of No Sense she does, buoyed in no small part by drummer Jim White and guitarist Mick Turner, of Dirty Three fame, and the string arrangements of Ned Collette, which add a powerful intensity to the album’s songs.


Metal Heart builds to an affecting crescendo and the addition of a saxophone to You May Know Him creates a joyous experience. While Cross Bones Style lacks the multi-layered vocal harmonies of the album version, it’s none the poorer for it – just different.


It’s haunting, desolate music, at once fragile and strong, much like Marshall’s voice – a sultry, honey-smoked instrument that wells up from somewhere deep inside.


The second half of the show is less affecting. Three solo piano tunes feel anti-climactic after the emotional and sonic heft of the Moon Pix set, and although the tide rises when the band returns to play Great Waves, it never quite swells to the height of the first half.


“Thank you for accepting me,” Marshall says to a final standing ovation. “I don’t know how many of y’all knew me back when I was crazy … We’re all a little crazy.”


We are indeed, and it’s a blessing artists such as Cat Power have the courage to share their inner demons and help alleviate our own.


Article source: https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/indonesia-seeks-death-penalty-for-jad-leader-aman-abdurrahman-20180518-p4zg5e.html?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_world

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