Reviewed onTuesday March 8
Although there is a place for universalism in songwriting, Aldous Harding, Jess Ribeiro and Seth Frightening lend weight to the assertion that lyrics based on personal experiences make for deeper, more piercingly engaging performances. Their respective sets at Newtown Social Club on Tuesday night proved the value of storytelling through song.
Seth Frightening served as the night’s opening act, and complemented his introspective style with delay and reverb effects applied to his vocals. Jess Ribeiro followed, brimming with anecdotes and wit. Her observations and narrative style (both in song and speech) resulted in a highly attentive crowd.
The evening’s headliner, Aldous Harding, channelled her personal stories into imagery. Although her pre- and post-song explanations weren’t as comprehensive as those provided by Ribeiro, this space for interpretation suited Harding’s descriptive writing and melancholy performance. Her captivating vibrato added to the gravitas of her lyrics, which were delivered in a beautiful (if perhaps affected) Gaelic style.
Between songs, Harding sipped from a can of Red Bull (afforded its very own stool for most of the gig). The setlist was dominated by songs that are yet to be released (or even recorded) outside a live setting. During these numbers, such as ‘Party’ and ‘Swell Does The Skull’, Harding employed sumptuous chord changes to suit the songs’ nature-based imagery (think warm grass and soft air). This material, while still contemplative, seemed to reflect a more positive outlook. “I’m happier than I used to be,” Harding conceded, calling her newer material “a lot less bleak”.
As it went on, Harding’s set increased in its theatricality. The final song of the main set, ‘Horizon’, saw Harding put down her acoustic guitar, with a keyboard accompaniment allowing the singer to underscore her lyrics with strong gestures. The evening’s encore consisted of an octave-traversing, a capella rendition of Roy Orbinson’s ‘Crying’. Although it provided a climactic end to Harding’s performance, the Piaf-esque drama of this cover reinforced the appeal of Harding’s songwriting style: effective through imagery and ambiguity of meaning, rather than overt, universalistic declarations of emotion.
