Seductive, sensual, beguiling. Seemingly, these are adjectives voiced collectively by an overwhelmingly enthusiastic wave of support throughout the music business for Anna Calvi. Certainly, at the best moments of tonight's set in Koko, during "The Devil" and "Desire", she is utterly captivating, possessing unquestionable ability in both her technique and understanding of her Fender Telecaster, and her effortless semi-operatic vocal talent.
This is music that belongs to no age, era, or trend, and for that it is possible to appreciate the performer for her talents alone. This is not to say that Anna Calvi has no obvious influences; PJ Harvey and Patti Smith being the most idle of comparisons. Idle maybe, but she attains that same rare and inherent ability to bewitch her audience; her sense of dynamics doing much to inspire that mesmeric attention. She can effortlessly glide to the kind of giddy and full on emotions of Jeff Buckley at his best. Then on a track such as 'No more words', she croons at almost a whisper, and the result is something which draws an almost tangible sense of sexual desire and dark allurement.
These affectations towards gothic themes; the devil, desire and self-possession are perhaps a little overplayed. In three different songs she reminds us that 'the devil is in me', 'my desire is so strong', 'the devil will come' etc etc. and this has a danger of becoming tiresome if Calvi chooses to continue with these concepts, and fails to find another outlet for her expression.
This quibble aside, her ability to create evocative feelings of unspoken urges and arcane desires can only be lauded. It is a unique talent to provoke such strong imagery through music, and generally, she carries this off with great aplomb. It takes on a formula, which could become too one-dimensional, but it is a formula that she manages to pull of, and with her musical gifts complementing this imagery, it makes her performance hugely enjoyable and one that is absolutely worth seeing.
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