Reviewed on Wednesday August 5
The Newsagency is a rather unique Sydney venue. It is an intimate space – cram in more than 50 people and you’d be dangling from the roof – but it is just that sense of close bonhomie that makes performances here shine. Even the odd technical hitch raising its head on occasion becomes somehow charming; you feel you are all in this together, where the banter flows freely and garlic bread is shared with wild abandon.
Opening was the ever-endearing Katie Wighton. Familiar with her work via All Our Exes Live In Texas, the experience of her solo show didn’t disappoint. Her stagecraft is rather adorable; she is comfortable with being self-deprecating and goofy, sipping tea as though she has just popped by for a crafternoon chat, yet her songwriting is exceptional. Though (somewhat) thematically linked, each song stands apart as a finely constructed set piece. Primarily performed across the piano, they ebb and flow with ease, and coupled with Wighton’s voice – a bittersweet thing with splendid colour and range – it made for a gorgeous, too-brief set of break-up songs and searching, evocative lyrics. Standouts included the gorgeous ‘Lifeboat’ and new Exes song, ‘Don’t Cry’.
It’s simple to bandy about a term like ‘haunting’, but that was entirely the sensation sustained throughout Sarah Belkner’s performance – the conviction that something otherworldly was taking place. From intoxicating opener ‘Blacken The Borders’ the tone was set for one of the most arresting voices I’ve heard in an age. “I don’t know who God is, I don’t know if he loves me,” Belkner laments, and bam! – goosebumps.
The remarkable range of her voice is matched only by her lyrical prowess; sound and word are dark, verdant, as though Angela Carter were being channelled through Agnes Obel, say, or Tori Amos. Belkner is a very physical performer, conjuring songs as much as performing them, and I sincerely urge you to catch her yourself – she crafts a truly memorable set, and while she insisted her cover of ‘Wuthering Heights’ was the last time it would be performed, it became an unexpected crowd-pleaser.
Wighton returned to the stage for a surprise duet, Chicago’s ‘Hard To Say I’m Sorry’, thus wrapping up a tremendous pairing of talent. Do yourself a favour and catch both these ladies wherever you can.
