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Kooky and kinky, in places, New Yorker Ingrid Michaelson is the ultimate in singer-songwriter geek chic. Having come to prominence on that most geeky of mediums, the web (where she has sold 350,000 copies of her album and notched up over one million downloads), the long-haired folksy singer sports her librarian’s glasses with pride while making jokes about embarrassing holes in her shirt to an adoring crowd.
But there’s genuine talent here too, especially in the alluring purity of the songwriting and her clear voice which makes her witty and charming lyrics intelligible.
With her female backing guitarist/vocalist Allie Moss, Michaelson ran though tunes from her current album and new ones. ‘Lady In Spain’ stood out alongside folked-up beat ballad ‘Be Okay’ with its cute chord changes, canny harmonies and fingerpoppin’ chorus. They shone along with Yankee sea shanty ‘Far Away’ and the wistful ‘Breathing’ which punctured the bubble of popular culture when the ditty was included on US hit TV series Grey’s Anatomy.
But possibly one of the best tunes of the whole set was a track which was introduced as a “new tune” with its heavy blues-jazz piano chords and more sustained attack. It all bodes very well.
Michaelson silenced the crowd with ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love’, the second of three encores, with the set culminating in tumultuous and sustained applause from a crowd who obviously couldn’t get enough.
Not bad for a geek from Staten Island…..
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Reviewed by Gareth Thomas | |
