Keren Ann

The gentle tone of Keren Ann swept across the venue, casting a silence across the entire crowd as she began her first song, All The Beautiful Girls. The multi-instrumentalist entered the stage with her guitar in her hand, and held it up in a greeting to her audience, whilst she waited for the applause to die down before sitting at her stool to begin. Although she’s quite an introverted performer, her control of the stage and gentle interactions with the audience were lovely and touching. She explained some of the methods and motivations behind her lyrics, which was great to hear first hand.
As well as playing on the piano and guitar to accompany her vocal performance, she also played a piece on clarinet which was beautiful, and unexpected. She played mainly from her self titled album, as well as 101, and it was wonderful to hear a variety of her songs live. She’s an artist who works well under pressure, there wasn’t a crack or break in her voice from nerves, and if anything, her vocals sounded even better in a live performance. After hearing a couple of songs I wasn’t familiar with, I’m compelled to buy her entire collection of music, every track is original and breath taking.