Fyfe Dangerfield
Bloomsbury Theatre, London
April 28, 2010
by Joanna Orland
Guillemots front man Fyfe Dangerfield released his first solo album Fly Yellow Moon back in January. Clearly the man has a musical ingenuity that shines even brighter when he’s the focus on stage, without a backing band to support him.
Fyfe does seem quite vulnerable up on stage all by his lonesome and occasionally supported by viola and violin. His banter was a bit stunted and shy, yet highly endearing as it had the audience laughing awkwardly even when he wasn’t being outright funny. Charming indeed.
While the album Fly Yellow Moon is full of solid songs with quirky and elaborate arrangements, the live set felt very much stripped down, raw and Stunningly better than the album even tries to be. Fyfe started off the gig on the piano, which he plays with much enthusiasm. Sadly, the piano was facing the back corner of the stage, which left the audience staring at the back of Fyfe’s bouffant for a large chunk of the gig. Nonetheless, he’s so talented, no one really minded. His voice is effortlessly sung with perfect pitch, power and emotion.
The set was very eclectic in sound ranging from Fyfe on piano, guitar, synth, fx pedals and the best instrument of all – the Loop Station. What a stellar sense of rhythm and co-ordination for such a tall lanky guy.
Anyway, the praise is endless. Highlights included a cover of Girls Aloud’s Call the Shots (which I had to Google extensively until I found out what that song was). It was very cool and certainly better than the original, which I only heard for the first time tonight thanks to Google + Spotify.
Lowlights, besides the bizarrely angled piano, included the random Billy Joel cover of She’s Always a Woman To Me…. Not because it was a bad performance… on the contrary. It’s what it represents that I find irritating. A credible musician has to resort to corporate advertising to gain exposure and make a decent living. Fair enough, he’s got to pay the bills.. but ARGH!!!!
Buy Fyfe’s new single Faster Than The Setting Sun and help support musicianship!
