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Live Review
by SashaS
10-5-2002
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| Skye Edwards of Morcheeba |
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Live: Morcheeba
Union Chapel, London
Thursday, May 9, 2002
Morcheeba’s moody and orchestrated sounds enchant a church
Stress, apology for bringing up the subject, is running our lives and it is interesting how we deal with it: youngsters usually find a relief in intense music such as nu-metal or its rap variety or go for all-nighters to dance the blues away but then comes a time when one’s daily life is as intense as a Slipknot show… What do you do then? Go and download the new Korn album?
Well, when mortgage is the centre of one’s existence, focus shifts to a chill-out music. And, one of the champions of the genre is Morcheeba; to promote the fourth album, ‘Charango’, some two months ahead of release, Morcheeba decided to road-test it on the home-crowd, with a full orchestra. A normal theatre, with its orchestra pit, would have been an ideal place but the threesome decided to go for a converted church. And, it worked wonders because it provided a spiritual ambience…
Although the public were at disadvantage due to the fact that the band were playing only songs from the forthcoming disc, as the band’s unofficial leader, composer and DJ Paul Godfrey, made it perfectly clear. After an introductory instrumental, singer Skye Edwards comes on for the album’s opening track, ‘Slow Down’, which she delivers with an amazing ease. The mellow and sophisticated sounds fill the hall with reverence, joy and calming effect while trying to get comfy on the stiff-backed pews.
Ms Edwards is generally so laidback that even venomous lyrics in ‘Sao Paulo’, “I want to smash it to pieces/ Release this hatred inside of me”, sound like she is asking for a new catalogue at the Argos counter… But, there is erotically loaded ‘Undress Me Now’, with its pop-hook and divine temptation to produce the next generation. Hazily funky ‘Get Along’ raises temperature but it would take, despite what Godfrey said at the beginning, ‘Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day’, to get this crowd truly saturated with de-stress.
Someone recently suggested that Doves new album ‘The Last Broadcast’ is the ultimate chill-out disc currently on the market. People who were present at Morcheeba’s show last night would argue otherwise because this is THE sound you’ll desire after a weekend of excesses. ‘Charango’ is definitely all you’ll need from the beginning of July…
I’ve had it for about a month and it has become an intimate persuader to serenity-self that even prevented me from getting mad after being cut-up by a silly bitch post-show, although there were no cars behind me. You’ll probably feel the same at summer-full of BBQ-parties, as well as bedrooms for slo-mo trysts…
SashaS
12-8-2002
Morcheeba’s album ‘Charango’ is released 01 July on WEA
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