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Live Review
by SaschaS
7-5-2003
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| Skin: a re-birth of a 'Fleshwound-woman' |
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Live: Skin
Scala, London
Wednesday, May 7, 2003
Skin: ex-Skunk Anansie woman inflicts pleasure wounds
It’s been a while since Skunk Anansie called it a day and singer Skin seemed to have all but disappeared. Now, after prolonged recordings sessions, she is back and glad you ought to be because this is Skin you are going to be surprised, elated and, unless hardcore Anansie fan, delighted with. The angry, politically bugged-down frontwoman has been ‘replaced’ with a thoughtful, more personally orientated and insightful material as the title of her debut solo album, ‘Fleshwounds’, coming out in June, indicates.
Still, she has lost none of her feistiness and that lithe body exudes a lot of energy, even during the emo-charged tracks. Dressed in black-PVC trousers-combo over a fishnet-top of the artwork on display, Skin fronts a four-piece backing band (she also guitars and plays some keys) with ardour and intensity. The crowd simply loves her and mini-ovations break out ever so often. And, justly so, as this is a delish of a gig.
This is one of the five dates she’s performed since the Mayday, filled with new songs, some re-worked tracks by Skunk Anansie and a surprise cover. ‘Fleshwounds’ offer rock cuts – such as the new single, ‘Trashed’, due out last Monday in May, bluesier songs and a touch of show-tunes, all sung with such ease and confidence you can only dream about from the ‘zit-pop’ brigade.
‘Don’t Let Me Down’, ‘Listen To Yourself’, ‘The Trouble With Me’, ‘You’ve Made Your Bed’ from the new album are dexterously interspersed with re-arrangements of ‘Weak’, ‘Charlie Big Potato’, ‘Hedonism’ and ‘Twisted’, plus a rousing version of Electronic’s ‘Getting Away With It’. Rock-chick-meets-balladeerette-meets-Judy Garland, how many others can you think of in this highly specialized and targeted mart?
Skin’s also got a new haircut, as pixed. Two screens provide the backdrop images infrequently with projections mainly used to set an ambient rather than augment the proceedings from music. Doubt it’d be possible because Skin has a gigantic onstage persona.
The show purely demonstrated the strength of her debut album further; whether it’ll be successful is not a question of quality but luck. Can honest and well-crafted songs with arrangements that get a bit prog-complexy at times be heard properly above the din of new kids with their ‘punk’ three-minute symphonies? But, most importantly, can fame struck twice? It certainly should in this case…
SaschaS
7-5-2003
Skin album ‘Fleshwounds’ is released 02 June 2003 on EMI
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