@ The Vanguard
[Wednesday 6th October 2004]
Review: Michelle O'Brien
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With free booze flowing and a room packed full of schmoozy industry types, expectations of Sarah's performance tonight were riding high. With such an anticipated album launch for her debut EP 'The Overture and the Underscore' which she recorded on her recent trip to Los Angeles, I'm sure Sarah Blasko was feeling the pressure back stage.
The early-bird show started at 8pm on the dot. I was impressed by the bar's refusal to serve drinks when the music began, thus encouraging utmost audience attention and respect for the artist. The catchy song 'All Coming Back' has been receiving a lot of airplay of late but as made my way from the bar to the stage, I found myself wishing she'd built up to the song rather than dived in head first. After taking the chattering crowd by surprise, Sarah's voice was so shaky that she didn't quite do the song justice. Afterwards she frantically asked the help of a band member to strip off her jacket because it was 'so bloody hot' up there on stage. The pressure looked like it was getting to her.
Strangely, Sarah's initially shaky voice actually worked in her favour by adding even more poignancy to her melodies. By the third song however, all nerves had dispersed and the entire band was confidently pulling together a powerful and well-rehearsed set. Her voice became stronger, she had much more control of her band and finally, her personality began to shine through.
Sarah Blasko is not only striking but her stage presence is captivating. Tall and lean with dark hair and alabaster skin, she exudes the innocence and purity of a porcelain doll. She also has the idiosyncratic performance style (hand movements and all) of a child's wind up toy. On stage she is lost in her own world and subsequently sends the audience into a trance of admiration. Her hazy melodies send a shiver down your spine and at times have the hypnotizing rhythm a nursery rhyme, a motif that stayed prevalent throughout her set.
For a band that had never played together before tonight (as Sarah admitted 'even though you're not supposed to say things like that at times like these'), the six musicians were extremely tight. The guitarist did look a little bored and the musicians were quite cramped on The Vanguard stage, but Sarah was so intoxicating that the rest of the band quite frankly faded into the background. Musically, I thought the band was a tad too tame and over-produced for Sarah's innovative sound. Rather than exploring with flying riffs and roaming bass-lines, they played with all the conservativeness of a generic pop band.
The audience was attentive yet surprisingly subdued. The fact it was an industry launch meant that heckling groupies were replaced by serious record label types and critical musicians. Unfortunately this meant that the level of enthusiasm in the crowd was well below what Sarah needed to really give it her all.
With extra support I'm sure she would have stepped up that extra notch to knock the audience's socks off (a notch I have no doubt she is capable of stepping.)
Many of Sarah's lyrics were hard to decipher due to the combination of a muffled microphone and intended vocal distortions. This was a shame because when audible, lyrics such as 'I thought about you tonight, I'm glad that you're alive' and 'I watched it all fall down,' add great depth and resonance to her songs.
Without over-categorizing her sound, at times Sarah's over-pronunciation and vocal huskiness reminded me of an early Bjork. The glockenspiel and church bell effects gave an intensely haunting feel to songs which handle big louds and poignant quiets as eloquently as a Jeff Buckley symphony.
The emotion aroused by her down-tempo song 'All Fall Down' left the crowd lost for words. It echoed back to the children's fairy tale theme and sent shivers up the spines of the audience. The syncopated off-beat guitar riffs and heavier drums in this song also provided the light after the darkness feel the audience had been waiting for.
The last and biggest song of the show was 'Don't U Eva.' Despite it's tacky SMS style title, the song is an absolute winner. With the lyrics, 'You've got a way with words to make me feel so complicated', this song is a radio single if I ever did hear one. And yes, the band stepped up to the finale challenge and sufficiently rocked out. Haunting samples of Sarah's voice layered on the keyboard added a surprise touch and created a beautiful cacophony of sound to finish off the set.
With such a short show and no encore, the crowd was left stunned yet maybe a little unsatisfied (at this stage Sarah's next gig will be Homebake on December 3.) Maybe there were too many expectations riding on the night after all, as Sarah half-jokingly told the audience at 9:10pm to 'head off now to the pub.' I couldn't help thinking that she would have been more suited to a more relaxed album launch: a crowd with fewer pretensions and more importantly, a venue where she could really let her personality shine through.
Whatever the case, a few nerves and a schmoozing industry crowd did little to hinder Sarah's unique talent. Her layered and flowing melodies combined with their rich undercurrents of something darker and deeper, are quite simply intoxicating. I'm sure this indefinable 'something' just under the surface will take Sarah on a journey to musical success. Sarah Blasko's will be a journey well worth traveling.
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