Kate Nash may only be 20, but she’s still an angry and bitter ex-girlfriend. Photos by
It happens at least once a year.
A performer comes out of nowhere with an album chock full of pop gems, older-than-her-age insights and enough spirited musings to engage even the most cynical critics.
The record comes out and is splashed all over the magazines. And then the performer embarks on a big ol’ tour and … disappoints everybody in her way.
I’m not saying Monday-night show at was a complete disappointment. But the show paled in comparison to the brilliance of Nash’s “Made of Bricks,” which was released earlier this year and is already a contender for the record of the year.
Part of the problem stemmed from the evening’s mix. Nash’s music is smart piano pop, a mixture of Nellie McKay and Lily Allen. But whatap most appealing about Nash is her lyrics. She’s a young lady who’s is telling it like it is — only unlike fellow Brit Amy Winehouse, Nash is relatively sane.
Given that itap all about the lyrics, hearing them is essential to enjoying the music. But the mix at the Fox was muddy throughout the set, and Nash’s words were mostly indecipherable.
It helped when Nash would sing alone with a guitar. Her confident vocals combined with her intimidatingly poignant lyrics (Google “Dickhead” or “Foundations”) makes for a wicked combination. But when Nash was playing with her four-piece band, it was too much.
That aside, Nash’s setlist was packed full, especially for such a new artist. (See a picture of the actual setlist below.) Itap hard to not admire Nash’s gumption in her “Sh-t Song.” The lovely storytelling of “Birds” followed and hushed the crowd into an adoring lull.
You couldn’t avoid the occasional cry from a female in the audience, “Play ‘Dickhead!’”
And sure enough, Nash laid into the quietly furious song – a track that is obviously her own revenge on a bad break-up.
A sample of the straightforward and biting lyrics: “Think you know everything? You really don’t know nothing. I wish that you were more intelligent. So you could see that what you’re doing is so sh-tty to me.”
Given the reaction the ladies in the audience had to the song on Monday night, itap become quite the anthem for the spurned woman.
“Skeleton Song” represents the more playful side of Nash, but it was tough to make out anything the singer was saying. The non-“Dickhead” highlights of the show were also the greatest songs on the album, “Mouthwash” and “Foundations.”
“Mouthwash” is an itchy pop meditation on the everyday, and “Foundations” is a modern, Morrisettesque take on break-ups for the hipster set. The song really is brilliant in its exploration of the hurt and the hurtful, the pain and the painful. And itap hard imaging Nash – a bright, bold and beautiful 20-year-old – as the woman who has actually experienced such heartbreak and bitterness. But her delivery seems honest and believable, so all you can say at the end of a show like this is, “Poor girl,” and wish her better luck next time – with men and the sound mix.
Ricardo Baca is the pop music critic for The Denver Post.
is a Denver photographer and a regular contributor to Reverb.
