Narc. Magazine Online
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Ben Lowes-Smith enjoys a particular kind of engaging and mystical theatrical austerity from Cate Le Bon
Image by Ivana-Kličković
H.Hawkline has been producing incredibly compelling McCartney-ish pop prolifically for about fifteen years now, and he perhaps hasn’t been given his flowers for the quality of his work. Drawing heavily from 2023’s Milk For Flowers, Hawkline is accompanied only by a nylon string guitar and a backing track (in a very aesthetically pleasing ‘tape player’). This stripped back presentation doesn’t detract from the exceptional quality of his songwriting, Milk For Flowers and Supression Street are particularly goosebump inducing tonight. He also plays some new songs which are similar in tone, but it’s a format that certainly ain’t broke.
Entering the stage to the Ivor Culter and Linda Hurts’s version of Women Of The World, Cate Le Bon and her band cut a particular kind of theatrical austerity- it is engaging and mystical. Drawing predominantly from this year’s excellent Michelangelo Dying, the group produce a textured, restrained sound that gets the best out of Cate’s songs- the watery, lucid production of the record is replicated beautifully in the Glasshouse’s concert hall. The group must be commended for their inventiveness and willingness to surrender their egos to the song: half of the sixpiece band play saxophone at some point during the set- Euan Hinshelwood and Paul Jones engaging in a scintillating duet during ‘About Time’ is a highlight of the set. Songs from Pompeii and Reward make an appearance too – the gorgeous Home To You providing an emotional centre point to the set. Cate Le Bon is a singular talent in this contemporary landscape, and tonight as a beautiful reminder of that.
