Anaïs Mitchell at Camden Dingwalls
Rachel Ries
Camden Dingwalls, 12 June 2012
Looking like she's just stepped out of a 1950s picture book wearing a full-skirted blue and white gingham dress, Rachel Ries (who is also a member of Anaïs Mitchell's band) immediately ruins the illusion by strapping on a bright red electric guitar. Her music though isn't far removed from that first impression: lonesome country-tinged folk songs with a nice line in storytelling.
Ries tells us how nervous she is and that she doesn't know what to say but yet actually sounds at ease on stage, naturally chatting and joking with the audience between songs. The best thing about Ries is her pure, lovely voice, put to best use on a duet with Anaïs, who briefly joins her on stage, for Grace The Day from the Country EP they did together a few years back. Ries says it was her attempt to write the perfect country song but she failed because it's about twice as long as it should be, but to my ears, with Anaïs's beautiful harmony vocals, it sounds pretty damn perfect to me.
Ries tells us how nervous she is and that she doesn't know what to say but yet actually sounds at ease on stage, naturally chatting and joking with the audience between songs. The best thing about Ries is her pure, lovely voice, put to best use on a duet with Anaïs, who briefly joins her on stage, for Grace The Day from the Country EP they did together a few years back. Ries says it was her attempt to write the perfect country song but she failed because it's about twice as long as it should be, but to my ears, with Anaïs's beautiful harmony vocals, it sounds pretty damn perfect to me.
It isn't long before Ries returns, this time in her role as a Young Man Band member, Anaïs Mitchell's excellent backing band named after her new album Young Man In America. Other than Ries, it also includes Mitchell's husband Noah Hahn on fretless bass and Ben Davis, a pretty awesome banjo-playing drummer (obviously not at the same time but come on, a drummer who also plays banjo and other assorted instruments! You can't get cooler than that). Mitchell herself is adorably petite and even prettier in the flesh than her press photos suggest (they really don't do her justice), wearing a black mini-skirt and faded t-shirt that, along with her Debbie Harry-esque blonde hair, makes her look like a cool rock chick straight out of the 1980s. Her music though doesn't belong to any era: rooted in Americana and folk, it covers everything from classic mythology to modern-day issues, while her endearingly girlish voice sounds like a more country-inspired version of Joanna Newsom. But such comparisons ultimately seem silly, as she's without doubt a unique voice in the folk world, her last album, the aforementioned Young Man In America, certainly attests to that and tonight, at first starting out alone on her guitar before being joined by her band, she treats us to many of its tracks from the heartfelt, banjo-led Tailor to the cool groove of You Are Forgiven. On one track, Wilderland, she encourages the audience to take part in the song and provide the musical wolf calls in the middle with everyone gamely howling along, providing great amusement to all and sounding very cool at the same time.
It's actually surprising just how energetic she is, swaying her guitar, stomping her feet and dancing in her spot before the microphone, Mitchell clearly puts her all into every song, sweetly grinning as each number comes together beautifully. She's also got great chemistry with her band, not just musically but also amusingly chatting with them between numbers, most memorably talking about English breakfasts and the entire band (particularly Noah) seeming to find black pudding something of a revelation. Maybe because it was the last night of a long tour for them but they were in particularly good spirits throughout.
The good feeling wasn't just on stage though as the audience cheer so loud that they entice Mitchell back for two encores. The first is wonderful, as the band air a particularly fantastic, rousing version of Why We Build The Wall from her epic concept album Hadestown. But the second encore is even more lovely, with Mitchell returning to the stage alone to play a purely acoustic older song Changer (from her third album The Brightness). She then unplugs her guitar and abandons her microphone to position herself at the front of the stage, almost in the audience, to sing the old folk standard, Goodnight, Irene, getting audience members who know the words to take turns singing the verses with the entire crowd singing along on the chorus. What a way to end their tour and certainly a magical ending to a magical evening. Let's hope she returns soon.
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