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This softest of centres could do with a harder edge
Independent on Sunday, The, May 6, 2007 by Howard Male
If I died tomorrow, rather than have the burnished baritone boom of a James Earl Jones God welcome me to through the pearly gates, I'd opt for the everything's-okay-really-it-is purr of a Bebel Gilberto God. Maybe this gives us a clue as to the secret of this Brazilian singer's huge success (her debut Tanto Tempo was the biggest Brazilian album ever in the USA.) It's a comfort thing: she's never in-your-face, just softly in your ear; she does-n't grab her material by the throat, she sidles up to it, throws an arm around its neck, and takes it for a stroll along the beach. But surely being carried on stage and carefully lowered onto a chaise longue is taking the whole laid-back thing a bit too far.
But before we get to the seduction by stealth methods of Ms Gilberto, a few necessary words about the support band, Kassin + 2. Playing tracks from their bold new album Futurismo they produced a constantly surprising and playfully original post-rock-meets- tropicalia sound. As soon as you felt you had them figured out, they'd shoot off on another tangent altogether. A hard act to follow.
But Bebel cosied down amongst the cushions and got straight into the title track of her just-released album Momento. But then, having established the vibe, she made the mistake of asking, "Can everyone see me?" "Nooo!" is the general consensus. She lifts her leg to reveal it's clad in plaster. "But what can I do?" she pleads.
But at least it's a relief to find out that the lying down to sing is actually a necessity rather than an affectation. Four songs later a barstool is passed from the back of the auditorium over the heads of the audience and Bebel's visible to all, though clearly in some discomfort. Ever the professional she delivers a selection of soft centres from her three albums accompanied by a modest-sized four-piece band.
But with every line seeming like an invitation to intimacy, and her intakes of breath between notes almost as audible as the notes themselves, it all gets a bit much after a while - or rather, not enough. On Ms Gilberto's recorded work there are interjections of elec-tronica into the sunshine swing of her fairly traditional take on bossa nova, and these add edge and modernity. But unfortunately such subtleties get lost in the high-domed space of the Roundhouse. So in the end it's Kassin + 2 who stay in the mind. Along with the miracle of the passing of the stool, of course.
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