Clare BowditchIt's too nice a day to be inside, but DJ Crispi takes the edge off the Social Club's over-cranked air-con by pumping out a warm, nostalgic set of songs — wall-to-wall rock, soul and guitar pop from The Church, John Lennon, Elvis Costello, Nancy Sinatra, The Monkees et al — as the band room slowly fills to capacity.
Warmth is something you can count on from a Clare Bowditch show, and this Sunday matinee is no exception. She arrives on stage in full-blown chatty-mode, distracting us with a story about a certain American singer-songwriter who would hide under a piano to tune her guitar, as she tunes her own. She then cracks a joke about swearing in front of children (her three can be seen looking on from side of stage) — and already she has us in the palm of her hand. Her heart is beating fast, she says, as she's going to road test a bunch of new songs later on. She opens though with "something reassuring" — a lovely, campfire rendition of Between The Tea And The Toast from 2007's The Moon Looked On — and then welcomes to the stage the rest of her ensemble: jazz chanteuse Monique diMattina on keys, John Butler Trio alumnus Shannon Birchall on double bass, a violinist, and Bowditch's husband and long-time collaborator Marty Brown on drums. They get us moving with a "new song that's not so new", the gospel-flavoured One Little River from 2013's The Winter I Chose Happiness.
"All these songs will change," Bowditch says, as she rolls out the first of the day's new numbers — a pretty, disquieting ballad, with a lyric evoking exploding love; an unsettling, rigid kick-drum beat; and slow, bowed bass notes. The new songs may be works in progress, but today several are dark and gorgeous. Middle Age Cliche (a working title) features Bowditch alone at the keyboard, dissecting the longings and encroaching apathy of a pair of middle-aged lovers. Another song employs Through The Looking-Glass imagery to explore a girl's experience of adolescent trauma. Let's Go To Bed is a more upbeat consideration of relationship woes — "Is this song about you and me, Marty?" Bowditch jokes with Brown. "We'll let the therapist work it out." Bowditch's voice is as sweet and soulful as ever, especially on the timeless I Thought You Were God and the vocally dextrous When The Lights Went Down. Birchall and violinist "Benji" ramp up the dark country twang onHuman Being, while the luscious torch song You Make Me Happy — made famous via Bowditch's stint on Network Ten's Offspring — and everyday-life-affirming Amazing Life round out a delectable set.
