Two of the strongest and most talented women in music got together to showcase their talents in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall this past Wednesday (November 22nd) in front of an appreciative crowd.
The Evening started with Hannah Peel. Described as ‘modest yet mesmerising’, Peel stands over her synths and electronics with an unassuming power. Throughout the performance she comes across to the audience as vulnerable and innocent, juxtaposed with this stirring maturity about her. The crowd were onside straight away, partly with her ability to create intimacy and humanity through synthetic means, marrying the real with analogue vulnerability.
Alison Moyet captures the audience straight away with the power and brevity of her voice, opening with April 10th taken from her most recent record, the critically acclaimed ‘Other’. Throughout her set she mixes the old with the new – a handful of Yazoo tracks feature including Nobody’s Diary, Only You, Situation and the encore, don’t go. Elsewhere there’s the pulsating electonic texture of Wishing you were here and the deep sexy bass groove and rough guitar of one of the stand out tracks from Other, brautiful gun, which sees Moyet et al lit up in sillouettes.
It’s Moyet’s ability to convey the songs, to perform them and read into them her own personality that sets her apart from a lot of singers. The heartbreak of Ski is all too real and raw, whereas The Man In the Wings positively smoulders, and Other is beautiful yet tragic and a breathtaking moment in the set.
The biggest cheer of the night is reserved for All Cried Out and set finisher Love Resurrection, and she’s drawn back for two encores – the aforementioned Don’t Go, and, prior to that, Jules Shear’s Whispering Your Name. By the time she leaves the stage, the devotees are happy, and the interested spectators converted.
HANNAH PEEL – Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia is out now via My Own Pleasure
http://www.hannahpeel.com/
http://www.hannahpeel.com/
