HI THERE POP FREAKS!
Listening to the radio the other day, a tune popped up that knocked my socks off! At first I thought, “Hey, this is a good, new tune by PJ Harvey” – I’m aware that she’s taken a new direction lately, and this direction has pulled off! – Of course it turned out not to be the goddess that is PJ Harvey but the rather wonderful….. ANNA CALVI
With her hair usually tightly, slicked back in a bun and bright, red lipstick and whom just happens to play electric guitar, you’d think I was describing one of the models from the Robert Palmer videos famed in the eighties? No, no, this is the somewhat shy, Anna Calvi, an ultra talented singer, songwriter from London who wields the guitar as if it was an extension of her own arm (Buttons are so passe).
Lets face it, those sultry ladies from the RP videos probably don’t have anything in common with Calvi apart from explosive sex appeal and I doubt any of them can even play guitar.
Apart from her confident axe playing that’s enough to turn even Jack White’s head, it’s her voice! What a tremendous voice it is, that’s what struck me and sent shivers down my spine.
She sounds (other than a new direction PJ as mentioned earlier) like a female Scott Walker conjoined at the throat with Edith Piaf perhaps. Anna (above – buttons are so passe).
Her over all sound is rather unique, it’s gothic, sleazy yet romantic, drawing inspiration from classical music such as Ravel, Debussy and Messiaen, tango to Ennio Morricone film scores.
Calvi’s eponymous debut album which she spent three years in her basement writing is released on the 17th of January. She embarks on a large tour to promote that album, starting at the very intimate Hoxton Hall in good old London town, I’m gonna try my best to get to that show!
www.annacalvi.com
Here are a list of her tour dates:
Jan 27 Hoxton Hall -Album Release Show – SOLD OUT London,
Feb 4 HMV Next Big Thing – SOLD OUT London, UNITED KINGDOM
Feb 8 Le Nouveau Casino Paris
Feb 9 Botanique Rotonde, Brussels
Feb 10 Paradiso Amsterdam
Feb 11 Prinzenbar Hamburg
Feb 12 Privat Club Berlin
Feb 23 Workingman’s Club Dublin
Feb 24 The Harley Sheffield
Feb 25 Bodega Social Nottingham
Feb 26 Hare and Hounds Birmingham
Feb 27 The Arches Glasgow
Feb 28 Deaf Institute Manchester
Mar 2 Komedia Bar Brighton
Mar 4 The Cooler Bristol
Mar 8 Joe’s Pub New York City
Mar 9 Mercury Lounge New York City
Mar 10 Grasslands 289 Kent Avenue NY
Mar 29 La Chapelle Metz
Here is Anna’s version of the classic track Jezebel.
F@ct!…. Kasabian were originally called Saracuse, but changed their name to match that of the getaway driver of the murderer of Roman Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate, Linda Kasabian ….
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