Plum Green & Jennifer Kingwell – Wine Cellar, 15 January 2016

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After orienting myself in a new wine cellar layout – having wondered if the inevitable current gentrification of the iconic St Kevin’s Arcade had spread like a tumour to the unique labyrinthine subterranean recesses of my favorite bar in NZ – I stumbled into a sauna-like space with a paucity of fire-escape options and a ’70s style psych-metal band playing passable hair-rock of Zeppelin style. An impressive growl from the obscured-by-hair frontman small in stature but massive in stage presence, was backed by a riff driven rock which had some great moments. His Master’s Voice is also the coolest band name I have heard in ages.

Next a reshuffle of the deck chairs – or school chairs in this case and a seated show by Jennifer Kingwell followed. A Melbournite bedsit pianist with classical flourishes in her quaint indie-pop songs of love and loss, Kingwell sang beautifully with an impressive projection and clarity to her soprano voice – her best moments reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, Sarah McLachlan and their ilk.

Plum Green, also coming to us from Melbourne, accompanied by herself on acoustic guitar and an electric guitarist on a black Gibson Les Paul not unlike Neil Young’s axe, gave a touching, nuanced and powerful performance of grace and power.

A strong folk voice with hints of my personal favorite female troubadour, Beth Orton, delivered with humility, subtlety and candour. Their opening song was driven by the fuzzed up power chords of her guitarist, well mixed by Rohan Evans as always however and allowing her voice to sit clearly at the top of the mix which is where it stayed for the duration of the performance. Some between-song banter with the audience, in which she spoke of song origins and inspiration added to the strong connection she achieved with the attentive audience.
One particular song in which she introduced as for “anyone who has lost someone” – surely everyone – told a haunting narrative ballad about a funeral of a close friend with concrete imagery and believable lyrics.
Mostly her own songs with a few PJ Harvey covers and a Tom Waits song also thrown in, she was joined on stage for the last few numbers by Jennifer Kingwell, at the keyboard, and some lovely harmonies ensued.

Even though the set went for over and hour and the temperature in the 30s was combined with 100% humidity, she kept the capacity crowd in the palm of her hand for the entire set – no mean feat in the climatic conditions.
This is one singer-songwriter worth watching, she brings a strong melodic sense and a refreshing honesty to her music. Melbourne’s gain is Auckland’s loss.

Stephen Allely

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