Shawn Colvin Gives Solid Performance
Shawn Colvin and Duncan Sheik Wednesday, Aug. 27, Opera House
What could be better than a literate, thoughtful introspective singer-songwriter with a great voice and an ear for shimmering folk-pop arrangements?
Two of them, that’s what. The Opera House audience Wednesday night got a double-dose of solid folk-pop from both Shawn Colvin, the headliner, and Duncan Sheik, the up-and-coming opening act.
The last time I saw Colvin was at The Met, way back in 1990 after she had just released her debut album, “Steady On.” Seven years later, she has finally achieved the popularity she deserves, with a hit single, “Sunny Came Home,” duets with such legends as Tony Bennett, and a spot on the Lilith Fair tour. I was curious, and a bit apprehensive, to see how success had changed her.
Not at all, I am pleased to say. She had the same unaffected, almost goofy, stage presence she had back then. She even introduced one song with a Rocket J. Squirrel voice: “And now for something you’ll really like!”
She bantered affectionately with her bass player and guitar player (her only accompanists), pausing at one point to look at one of them and say, “Are you guys carrying on a conversation back there?”
And her music still has the same bright, jangly, unaffected quality. She played a few songs from “Steady On,” including the title track, but mostly she played tracks from her outstanding new album “A Few Small Repairs.”
When I say bright and jangly, I am referring to the arrangements and guitar work, which could have come from a ‘70s Gordon Lightfoot album. I am not referring to the subject matter, which in the finest Colvin style, can look unflinchingly at some darker subjects. In fact, “Sunny Came Home” is about a woman who comes home and makes “a few small repairs” by setting fire to her home (and presumably to her past life).
After the three-quarters-full crowd gave her a standing ovation, she came back out and sat down at a piano and launched into one of the finest songs of the evening, “If I Were Brave.”
Duncan Sheik was a pleasant surprise as the opening act. He, too, writes literate and introspective folk-pop tunes. The arrangements on such songs as “Serena” and “Home” are full of chiming, Byrds-like guitars.
Also, many of his songs have an atmospheric, minor-key feel which gives them a distinctive, pensive quality. Most are about love and relationships, yet Sheik’s straightforward vocal style prevents these songs from sounding too gooey.
From the sounds of the shrieks from the audience, he already has his own loyal following. His hits “Barely Breathing” and “She Runs Away” closed out his set.
, DataTimes