Cat Power - London Forum - 1/1/07
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Search for 'hypnotic' using the Microsoft Word thesaurus facility and you're offered an interesting selection of suggested alternatives. 'Mesmerizing' is one of them. 'Spellbinding' is in there too. 'Soothing' is another. As is 'repetitive.' Such apparently contradictory adjectives actually fit rather well in attempting to describe tonight's Cat Power show.
Previously given to crippling stage-fright and on-stage breakdowns, tonight The Forum witnesses no such traumas from the husky -voiced Georgian chanteuse, indeed, this is an absolutely seamless performance from Chan Marshall. The only gripe is with the muddy sound system which renders many of the lyrics unfathomable. A band - with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Judah Bauer on guitar duties- who are nothing less than entirely competent. Her keyboard player heralds Chan as 'the greatest soul singer in the world.' Her vocal credentials were never in question. But as a spectacle, something's missing.
Despite prowling around the stage with feline allure for the duration of the evening, her dulcet tones are never accompanied by anything musically or visually arresting, giving the gig the feeling of a continuous, 90 minute long lullaby. It probably doesn't help that we're passing up the Champions League semi-final second leg between Liverpool and Chelsea to be here, but it doesn't take long for a lack of urgency and variation to become plainly apparent, especially after dispenses with 'The Greatest' as the second song and chucking away much of the more gripping material from that album early on.
'Play an instrument!' shouts a girl just before a slinky cover of The Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction'. That would have provided a welcome diversion. For a wonderful voice alone does not necessarily make for a compelling live spectacle.
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