Concert Review: Repulsive Woman – Wine Cellar May 9, 2019
From the deep South…Dunedin actually, comes Repulsive Woman, aka Millie Lovelock, presenting songs from her upcoming album, Relief, at Auckland’s Wine Cellar.
You may be familiar with Lovelock’s other musical outlet, the two-piece Astro Children. But for the last couple of years Millie has been toying with her solo persona in the shape of Repulsive Woman, and her debut album will be released in June.
It was a crisp, autumn evening, dried leaves swirling on the footpath as darkness descended upon K Rd and I made my way to the Wine Cellar.
Upon arrival, Being (aka Jasmine Balmer) was already entertaining a generous crowd in the petite venue.
It was only a few moments after Being’s well-received set that Millie Lovelock, dressed in a striking pink suit, sat down at the keyboard on stage a began picking out a few isolated notes, eventually singing a short introductory tune in a fragile voice.
She then strapped on her electric guitar while the rest of her band took their places alongside of her. The three women…their names were not revealed to us…played bass, violin and keyboards, with the keyboard player adding harmony vocals throughout the set.
For the first couple of songs of the 45 minute set, Lovelock stared out with a piercing gaze as she sang. “I’ll be OK”, was the somewhat reassuring lyric heard during When I Get Good, while the violin player added some beautifully dissonant sounds of her own.
That dissonance turned into one keening note during the following selection, Soft Borders, with Millie’s vocals reminding me a bit of Kristin Hersh… stoic, but with pent up emotion just below the surface.
That icy exterior began to melt away as the set progressed.
“Some of you might know me from my previous work with One Direction”, she deadpanned, before turning in a bittersweet version of the boy band’s 2013 hit, Happily.
The remainder of the set focussed on songs from Relief, with latest video, Rough Around The Edges sounding almost poppy within the context of the songs around it…nevermind that it deals with anxiety and melancholy. Again, the soaring violin added a perfect counterpoint to Lovelock’s vocals.
After Some Body, Millie broke the ice further with a story of how she had had James Joyce’s Ulysses mansplained to her while in Dublin by a group on middle-aged men recording a podcast in one of Joyce’s haunts. The short tune that followed seemed almost like an afterthought.
The Repulsive Women (her term, not mine), wrapped with two more songs from the album, with the droney Earn it Twice giving me visions of The Velvets, with the violin replicating Cale’s viola.
Back out on the street and kicking the leaves around on the way home, I couldn’t help but think I saw and heard something special.
I look forward to hearing the album.
Marty Duda
Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Veronica McLaughlin:
Repulsive Woman set list:
- Intro
- When I Get Good
- Soft Borders
- Relief
- Happily
- Rough Around The Edges
- Some Body
- Ulysses
- Overripe
- Earn It Twice
