Cerys Mathews |
Shatterglass vocals back on top form
REVIEW - CERYS MATHEWS
KOKO
by Catherine Etoe
CALL it foolhardy, call it generous, but it is pretty unusual to hold off performing the record you’re trying to flog until you’ve exhausted playing the one you last released.
Yet if Cerys Matthews wanted to break her Koko audience in gently by waiting an age before offering a taste of new album Never Said Goodbye, she needn’t have.
That record’s return to the melodic rock style that epitomised her former band Catatonia was eagerly anticipated judging by the sing-a-longs it induced in a rowdy post-England football match crowd.
“I’m sorry you lost,” shouted a pinched cheeked, big red guitar clutching Matthews in a toned-down Welsh accent so we could all understand.
Who knows if she meant it, but like the slow burn she gave us by performing much of 2003’s Cockahoop plus a smattering of Catatonia – not the hits, never the hits – before touching the new stuff, it didn’t matter.
Probably because Matthews, abetted by guitarist Kevin Teal, breathed new life into that Country inspired solo debut just as the move to Nashville four years ago did to her.
Gone is that irritating urge to burst our eardrums just to impress; in its place is a musician with an ear for a tune and a voice that’s equal to it.
And so, Matthews’ shatterglass vocals and Teal’s twangy guitar turned Weightless Again from a plodding dirge into a sweeping cowboy classic, and the hymn like All My Trials received the stomping harmony it deserves.
But there was no such need to invigorate the new stuff. Morning Sunshine, written with Super Fury Animal Gruff Rhys, is perkier than a breakfast show DJ.
While Streets of New York, with its post-rock instrumental intro and jerky, multi-layered chorus, sees Matthews back to her height-of-fame best – and this time you get the feeling she can handle it.
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