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The Troubadour - Thu Jan 8
The cosy Troub is a perfect place to relax after a muggy festival day; rushed and sweat-soaked, I momentarily calm down once Toronto’s Matthew Barber takes charge. Clad in sharp vintage gear, the left-handed folkie has everyone’s attention with his keening voice, deft thumbpicking and crying harmonica; joking about Brisbane’s heat, he aptly recites Sleep Please Come To Me. The cover of Leonard Cohen’s Bird On A Wire swaps the original’s serenity for slow-burning intensity and when Matt’s little sister gets up to duet on the concluding Where The River Bends; the siblings’ sweet harmonies soothe whatever remaining anxiety.
The duties are now handed over to Jill Barber and the blue dress-wearing songstress gives us more wistful folk. Songs from the Juno Award-nominated latest album Chances prove that the Barbers are a massively gifted family, every minor chord and whistle break a treat. Her voice a husky warble, Jill’s magnetic, swooning presence recalls Martha Wainwright. Enlisting brother Matt to provide organic chemistry on the motherly dedication Two Brown Eyes and the call-out gospel closer Oh My My, the blonde-haired beauty smiles as loud cheers rise.
Headlining tonight’s all-Canadian revue, the inimitable Hawksley Workman starts his set with an extended monologue about his paranoia moment in Caboolture and dinner with Prince Charles, drawing hearty laughs before launching into his unique cabaret/folk/rock oeuvre with Bullets. Accompanied by bespectacled pianist Todd Lumley, the barefoot Hawksley soars on the sarcastic Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off, Girls On Crutches and Karma Chameleon-seguing The City Is A Drag. On the sexy Torrential Love, he rips into a blinding guitar solo that would, by all accounts, make Prince blush; Jealous Of Your Cigarette has room for another dextrous workout and the arresting Montreal/Wicked Game sequence would move a mountain. Come the encore, Hawksley takes over the piano for Autumn’s Here, urging the ecstatic, obliging crowd to slow-dance. A true marvel; should he ever quit making music – unthinkable, really – he’d make a killer stand-up comedian. Bravo!
DENIS SEMCHENKO
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