I must admit I arrived at The Lobby with no prior knowledge of the night’s support act PINA. Turns out she’s a Real World label mate of JOSEPH ARTHUR’S, touring to plug her debut album, “Quick Luck.”
The diminutive Austrian, currently residing in West Cork, accompanied herself on acoustic guitar, with sonic assistance from lead electric guitarist “Magical Andy” (as she referred to him). She proceeded to perform a solid set of tunes dealing with love, ignorance, birth and death. Her most affecting performance – not only for this reviewer – coming via “Josephine”: a meditation on being present at her grandfather’s peaceful passing away.
Andy provided textures mostly, employing a small selection of FX pedals, only once stepping into the spotlight for a fully-fledged solo. PINA concluded with a fairly faithful reading of folk standard “Black Is The Colour” – capable of wiping the floor with THE CORRS any day of the week. With a distinctive, powerful voice, and an honest, no punches pulled approach, if there’s any justice left to be squeezed out of the music world, we should be hearing more of PINA in the weeks and months to come.
Already pleasantly surprised, I was looking forward to the main attraction, being familiar with his sophomore release, 2000’s “Come To Where I’m From”. However, the introductionless set opener did little to separate JOSEPH ARTHUR from any other angsty American strummer with a basic knowledge of minor chords.
However, Mr. Arthur soon redeemed this inauspicious beginning by doing what he does best live, engaging in all sorts of trickery with his array of live samplers and FX. With the aid of his sound engineer he laid down a rhythm track and backwards guitar riff to accompany his second new song.
Indeed, the set consisted primarily of music fresh to these ears, much of which remained in keeping (thematically) with his previous worldview – sample lyric: “All your dreams are waking up.”
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However, JOE has previously been lauded for being up there with the best of them when it comes to sugar-coating his miserablist pill, and my fellow audience members and I were soon entranced as he sent forth wave after wave of beautiful noise, even singing multi-part harmonies with himself at one point.
The set also benefited from two guest spots. PINA returned to add backing vocals to “Cockroach” and the surprise appearance of BEN, OLLIE and IAN of GOMEZ (old touring mates of JOE’S and in town to play THE SAVOY tonight) to lend a hand on “Mexican Army.” By the closing encore of “Come To Where I’m From” opener “In The Sun”, the majority of us had been thoroughly won over.
At times, there was something slightly detached about ARTHUR’S performance, probably the result of seemingly endless European touring, which sees him back on these shores in under a month. Also, it must be said that – despite demonstrating plenty of passion – he can come across as purely a run of the mill singer/ songwriter when he switches back to straight acoustic guitar. He appears to lack the quality which can make an entirely acoustic show by the likes of, say, CHRIS MILLS, so riveting.
I’m not trying to suggest JOSEPH ARTHUR’S use of gadgetry should be an attention-grabbing gimmick, but it’s his mastery of this aspect of his live self that enables him to truly stand out from the crowd and guarantee that his return audience – your reviewer included – are already contemplating him the next time around.
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