A small crowd gradually works their way up the stairs of the Trades Hall, a venue soon to be buzzing with Fringe Festival performances. Bella Union provides a cosy haven upstairs, with Evelyn Morris tinkering away on a piano and adding to the intimate atmosphere. I have struggled to connect with Pikelet’s music in the past, but the stripping down from layered loops helped to break down a few walls for me, despite a distractingly chatty crowd. The Ancients were next, delivering a dependably good show. The band coasted along with jangle-y, hazy sounds that perfectly matched Jonathan Mitchell’s dewy-eyed, gentle vocal delivery.
Lehmann B Smith has an endearing presence on stage. It’s a big night, the launch of his latest album, and yet he has forgotten to bring any CDs and has to sell the ones he was going to give free to his collaborators. “I can sell them for $20, maybe $15?” is more of a tentative question to the crowd than an assured selling point. “I can be haggled.”
Tonight he winds his way through the bulk of Girlfriends, roughly in album order and with a few non-album tracks filling the gaps. He had ample support on stage, though I would love to have seen at least a couple of songs with a full choir as opposed to having Liz Mitchell as the sole female voice. Perhaps a few more songs from Little Milk to showcase the stripped-back, shorter songs of Lehmann might have also added nicely to the mix too.
The best renditions of the night were some of the Girlfriends songs from later in the album, delivered toward the end of the night when Lehmann and company had really warmed up. Follow Me justifiably got the warmest reception, while some of the more heart-rending ballads really shone, notably You Don’t Need Anyone (Else) and the retained album closers Cry and Sad Songs. It’s quite an achievement when so many mixed emotions make for such a feel-good evening.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
LOVED: Quality music enjoyed from a well-worn couch.
HATED: When the tap cider ran out.
DRANK: Cider, then beer.
