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| Michael Penn |
| September 28, 2005 • The Rivoli • Toronto |
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A Platform in Space
by Stanley Fefferman |
| Michael Penn: looks a bit like Leonard Cohen, dark with prominent, rounded features; sounds a bit like Elvis Costello—raspy pushing into the high register; his songs mostly speak to his woman, the woman he’s not with, saying, ‘exactly here is where things are not working out, I’m sorry’; sings with eyes closed, concentrating inward, leaving himself vulnerable; lots of folk energy in his Gibson; nice blend of tones with keyboard or accordion backing him. |
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Billed as the ‘thinking person’s pop musician’, Michael Penn’s songs are built around moments of suspended time, like when Wiley Coyote finds his leap across the canyon is a bit short, he looks down, says “Oh-oh” and just before plummeting down, for a second or so, he finds a platform in space. He has the intellectual’s melancholy, the defensive irony-“ Isn’t it high time to choose, between what you’ve lost and what you stand to lose?” Sharp minded, but emotionally fallible: “If I’m wrong again, don’t let me go.” Prides himself on his talent for analysis, the perfection of his sense of symmetry:” You don’t understand how perfect it is.“
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| Michael brought Rosie Thomas and her brother to open for him. Rosie comes on as a shy solitaire with a voice that sighs like wind and rings like a bell. She modulates her tones a lot, like Joni Mitchell, so her songline undulates, sending out waves of relaxation. On piano and guitar, her simple folk arrangements are more sensitive than elaborate. The Thomas kids create a lovely, if slightly mournful mood. |
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We welcome your comments and feedback
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| Stanley Fefferman |
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The Live Music Report |
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