Reviewed onFriday March 4
For those mourning the passing of summer, Patrick James’ sweet sun-soaked tunes at The Basement last Friday were a fitting final huzzah.
The evening kicked off with Milton singer-songwriter Hein Cooper, who oozed confidence in every direction. He impeccably navigated a smorgasbord of nimble acoustics, electronic grooves and looped, a capella moments, charming the crowd with his straight-shooting style (“This song is called ‘All My Desires’. It’s about all the shit that I want that I don’t have”). Many musicians might hesitate before tackling a Kanye cover, but not Cooper, whose flossy falsetto polished the coarseness of ‘Runaway’ into something raw and lovely. Do yourself a favour and check out his debut, The Art Of Escape, launched that evening.
Ironically it was man of the hour, Patrick James, who played coy despite a sold-out show. The Aussie troubadour exuded an earnest energy from the first honeyed note of ‘In New Light’. Perhaps his gentle demeanor was mirroring the crowd, peppered with fresh-faced couples a little self-conscious themselves. Or perhaps it was reverse psychology, because for each fervid expression, quiet chuckle, thumbs up or sliver of backstory he offered, the audience was coaxed into participation. Three songs deep and it seemed everybody was chanting the chorus of the creeping slow-builder ‘Bugs’.
Crowd camaraderie well established, James worked his way through his cache of mellow pop, mostly drawing from his debut Outlier. Setlist gems included a lulled and lingering rendition of ‘Kings And Queens’ and the coastal toe-tapping thrum of ‘California Song’, which had the audience ruffling and swaying like palm trees.
There were curveballs too, including a brooding, bare-bones cover of The Killers’ ‘Runaways’ for encore and a tongue-in-cheek version of John Farnham’s ‘Two Strong Hearts’. Backed with doo-wop-style vocals from James’ band, dusted in tambourines and injected with a cheeky sax solo (inducing a disproportional amount of cheering from the crowd), the latter number caused James himself to stop halfway through for a laugh.
Warm and authentic in sound and stage presence, and with a clear penchant for crowd sing-alongs, James (or ‘Patty James’ to fans) has an endearing effect on people in a room. It was a testament to his chops as a performer that despite his unassuming songs and an intimate venue, every time he invited people to sing, they did wholeheartedly. They knew all the words too.
