Kathleen Edwards at Islington Academy
Hannah Georgas
Islington Academy, 28 February 2012
"Call this fucking country music?!" Kathleen Edwards shouts before breaking into a big grin as the feedback echoes at the end of the upbeat pop of Sidebar. "Call this fucking country music?" she asks again as the band launches into the Tom Petty-esque charge of Back To Me.
It's true that over the years that Edwards has been rather unfairly pigeonholed as a country artist, one listen to any of her three previous records would tell you there's more Neil Young and Petty in her soul than any twang, but her latest album, Voyageur, produced by her latest flame and man-of-the-moment Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, has helped her break those expectations although in reality it's not a big departure from what she's always been doing: straight ahead good songwriting with its heart in Americana. If anything the new album probably lacks a little of what Kathleen seems to love, and that's the pure rock 'n' roll excitement she displays tonight. Swearing and grinning and swinging her guitar, she looks every bit the rock chick, with her unruly red curls and skin tight jeans and manages to heighten the emotion of every Vogageur track.
Nowhere is this more evident than on the song House Full Of Empty Rooms which is prefaced by a very moving introduction by Kathleen almost on the verge of tears, explaining how the loss of the first house she ever owned (presumably due to her divorce from long-time collaborator Colin Cripps last year) affected her deeply. "This is a song I wrote a long time ago," she tells us. "I thought it was about someone else but realised it's actually about me." The following song is powerful in its telling, with the kind of sad sob in her voice that would make Tammy Wynette proud, and makes the album version seem pale in comparison. I come away wondering if Vernon had been the best choice, certainly he's helped garner her the kind of attention she's always deserved, but his moody production isn't always completely fitting of Kathleen's rawer delivery.
That said all the Voyageur tracks sound tremendous tonight, from the gorgeously sad A Soft Place To Land to the quietly building single Change The Sheets (which begins with an amusing keyboard malfunction), it's clear Edwards is a songwriter and performer at the top of her game. There are also many great moments from her previous albums the best being the hugely atmospheric Goodnight, California from, arguably, her masterpiece Asking For Flowers. It's without doubt her Like A Hurricane: beautiful, evocative and full of longing.
For the encore there's an incredibly fun cover of Big Star's power pop classic September Gurls, which sees her trading lines with backup singer and support act Hannah Georgas, both with huge smiles on their faces and showing that this gig ran the gamut of emotions from tears to anger and then laughter to pure carefree fun and that's a pretty impressive feat for any artist.
Support act Hannah Georgas is a fellow redheaded Canadian singer-songwriter but unlike Edwards her style veers towards more of an indie pop sound. Accompanied by a guitarist (who looks uncannily like Zachary Quinto), she has an affable and sweet stage presence and a distinctive voice that's somewhere between Feist and Emily Haines. She has a new album (her third) out later this year and definitely worth keeping an eye on.
It's true that over the years that Edwards has been rather unfairly pigeonholed as a country artist, one listen to any of her three previous records would tell you there's more Neil Young and Petty in her soul than any twang, but her latest album, Voyageur, produced by her latest flame and man-of-the-moment Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, has helped her break those expectations although in reality it's not a big departure from what she's always been doing: straight ahead good songwriting with its heart in Americana. If anything the new album probably lacks a little of what Kathleen seems to love, and that's the pure rock 'n' roll excitement she displays tonight. Swearing and grinning and swinging her guitar, she looks every bit the rock chick, with her unruly red curls and skin tight jeans and manages to heighten the emotion of every Vogageur track.
Nowhere is this more evident than on the song House Full Of Empty Rooms which is prefaced by a very moving introduction by Kathleen almost on the verge of tears, explaining how the loss of the first house she ever owned (presumably due to her divorce from long-time collaborator Colin Cripps last year) affected her deeply. "This is a song I wrote a long time ago," she tells us. "I thought it was about someone else but realised it's actually about me." The following song is powerful in its telling, with the kind of sad sob in her voice that would make Tammy Wynette proud, and makes the album version seem pale in comparison. I come away wondering if Vernon had been the best choice, certainly he's helped garner her the kind of attention she's always deserved, but his moody production isn't always completely fitting of Kathleen's rawer delivery.
That said all the Voyageur tracks sound tremendous tonight, from the gorgeously sad A Soft Place To Land to the quietly building single Change The Sheets (which begins with an amusing keyboard malfunction), it's clear Edwards is a songwriter and performer at the top of her game. There are also many great moments from her previous albums the best being the hugely atmospheric Goodnight, California from, arguably, her masterpiece Asking For Flowers. It's without doubt her Like A Hurricane: beautiful, evocative and full of longing.
For the encore there's an incredibly fun cover of Big Star's power pop classic September Gurls, which sees her trading lines with backup singer and support act Hannah Georgas, both with huge smiles on their faces and showing that this gig ran the gamut of emotions from tears to anger and then laughter to pure carefree fun and that's a pretty impressive feat for any artist.
Support act Hannah Georgas is a fellow redheaded Canadian singer-songwriter but unlike Edwards her style veers towards more of an indie pop sound. Accompanied by a guitarist (who looks uncannily like Zachary Quinto), she has an affable and sweet stage presence and a distinctive voice that's somewhere between Feist and Emily Haines. She has a new album (her third) out later this year and definitely worth keeping an eye on.
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