The email arrived out of the blue late on Friday. Would I like to see Emiliana Torrini on Sunday night at the Powerhouse? Are you kidding? Of course I would.
I’ve been a bit of an Emiliana Torrini fan since 2005 when I heard her second album, ‘Fisherman’s Woman’. I remember being first intrigued by the fact she had come from Iceland. To date, I’m guessing that Iceland’s greatest cultural export is still Bjork, with Sigur Ros trailing a short distance behind. It’s surely Emiliana’s turn now, for some wider exposure. There is an audience out there yet to hear of her.
When ‘Fisherman’s Woman’ came out, “Sunny Road” was a popular tune on the office playlist. At first, I thought it was kind of lightweight, but there was this little hook in the tune and ‘lightweight’ was soon elevated to ‘subtle nuance’. Still, it never seemed quite meaty enough to attract radio airplay, words like ‘subtle’ and ‘nuance’ don’t appear in commercial radio’s lexicon.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=MyuL1z2tejs
I remember sitting in the theatre as the credits rolled on ‘The Two Towers’, hearing “Gollum’s Song” and thinking it was Bjork. It sounded like Bjork, and to all intents, was actually supposed to have been Bjork. But due to her pregnancy, Bjork had been forced to renege and Emiliana Torrini was seconded in her place. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1CWoGn88oeE
Of course, by the time of ‘Fisherman’s Woman’, I’d forgotten the name (if I’d even known it back then). This time, she didn’t sound much like Bjork at all. After Sigur Ros, I’d been wondering if all Icelandic music was so culturally unique.
Well, that’s where someone like Emiliana Torrini makes such a refreshing point of difference. It’s Pop with a twist, a little cerebral, but not nearly so exclusively as her Reykjavikian peers.
Emiliana Torrini’s music was leaking into the mainstream in other ways, mostly via the usual-suspect TV shows I never watch, like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. One sweet but unassuming tune from ‘Fisherman’s Woman’ called “Heartstopper”, was used in a local TV ad for ‘Hoodies’. Earlier still, in 2003, Torrini had co-written a hit for Kylie Minogue called, ‘”Slow” along with two other songs on the beloved budgie’s ‘Body Language’ album.
A couple of months ago, Emilana Torrini released her latest album, ‘Me And Armini’. It got glowing reviews in the press, with Bernard Zuel devoting half a page to the singer in the Sydney Morning Herald. The first single from ‘Me And Armini’ was called “Big Jumps”. Did commercial radio even bother? I don’t know. Like so many others, I stopped listening to it years ago. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_CF7sER73TY
So, Sunday night arrived and just before it was time to leave for the concert, the skies opened up with a huge storm. Why is it, there is a downpour whenever I go to a gig lately? The Dandy Warhols was a rainfest, the same when I went with friends to see Buck 65 at the Gallery of Modern Art. Inevitably, we were caught in the rain and still trying to get over the most recent flu bug. Jeez, I’m never gonna recover at this rate.
Emiliana Torrini, as it turns out, is no great shakes at the art of the onstage ad lib. She confessed to having stage fright but her fractured attempts at bantering between songs only made her seem more human and fragile. She confessed that she wasn’t always like this and that long flights can make you crazy. Adding to the sense of disarray was the confession that she had been forced to borrow her dress from a friend as the orange number she had planned to wear, revealed her underwear. She had thought of going without knickers, she said, but that too would have been too much of a distraction for her. With all those women in the room, I can well understand.
The set kicked off with “Fireheads” and a beautiful take of “Heartstopper”. Before long, we were treated to “Sunny Road” and “Big Jumps”, both received enthusiastically by the audience.
She said she wasn’t sure which of her songs had been released as ‘singles’ out here and I’m guessing that crowd probably had no idea either. This audience of 70% women to 30% men wouldn’t even buy singles, but they did seem familiar with the albums.
As the evening progressed, the music got louder with songs like “Me And Armini” and an exuberant love song called “Jungle Drums” before slipping back into the intimate mode Torrini’s voice sounds perfect for. And then disaster struck.
During the encore, and following “Nothing Brings Me Down”, the other great favourite I was hoping to hear, Emiliana attempted to sing “Fisherman’s Woman”. Within a few bars, it fell apart in laughter as she confessed to having forgotten her own lyrics. A second attempt was made but the seed of laughter had been planted and she lost it again. The moment, however, was not an embarrassing one. The audience was with her and I hope her own professional embarrassment after the show was not that acute. It was a good show and Brisbane showed its warmth in return. Earlier, Emilana had noted the day’s weather, saying she had come out from England to escape the rain. Perhaps it was just one of those days all around. As we filed back into the lobby, I picked up a copy of ‘Fisherman’s Woman’ from the merch counter on my way out. I wanted to hear “Nothing Brings Me Down” again.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_o63W9WRNVA
The gig at the Brisbane Powerhouse was the first on a hit-and-run Australian tour running between the 16th and 20th of November, with other stops in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Catch it if you can.
