Review by Alex Metcalfe
There were more than a few similarities between Paula Perri and main act Teitur – at least in the context of yesterday evening’s concert at The Great Hall. My main observations in both artists’ sets were that these song-writers enjoy playful tinkering of pulse, changing tempo and general tendencies of avoiding repetition and chorus-driven songs.
My biggest question during the concert was: who puts together a better love song? And, I must confess that, through no form of patriotism, Canadians, as represented by Paula Perri, came out on top in this epic battle between peaceful cultures.
Okay fine! It wasn’t so much about a culture battle-royale. Really, I just found that Paula Perri’s sound has a kind of immediacy that Teitur’s sound does not. In short: Perri sounds like 2012, Teitur sounds like 2008. The difference was definitely palpable. Allow me to explain.
Even though the Hall was still pretty empty, Paula Perri got the evening started around 9:00pm. Paula, whose songs have clearly been arranged to suit a fuller ensemble, was only joined by a duo of dudes – presumably from her bigger band – that helped her bring her tunes to life with an added electric guitar and djembe hand drum texture.
Maybe it was because she was playing to an audience that was primarily there to see Teitur, or maybe she just felt a little artsy and in control with her smaller band, but Paula took some liberties with things like tempo (the speed of the beat in the music). This gave some of her songs an added zest that they didn’t have on their recordings (at least the ones that I heard), but on other songs, I was left with a kind of uneasy, awkward sensation of not knowing how the song should feel.
This was definitely not the case for “Broken Arrow,” though – a song that is, without a doubt – the crown jewel of Paula Perri’s repertoire. I don’t know what this song is about; for all I care, it could be about a hapless Aboriginal hunter who’s day went south when his arrow broke. Would that make it a folk song? Probably. I was too focused on the addictive, steam-engine pulse of the song that sucked me right in. “Broken Arrow” is a hit in the making that just needs the right instruments behind it to really bring it to life.
After “Broken Arrow,” I spent the remainder of Paula Perri’s set asking myself – and hopefully telepathically asking her – if she could be kind enough to present us with an album’s worth of songs that goes where that tune goes: fun, folky rhythms, bluesy-yet-sensitive vocals, guitar licks that sound great as a soft acoustic tune or in front of an amped up band. You’ve got a sound brewing there, Paula, and there’s an audience in 2012 who’ll want to hear it!
