I can’t remember the last time I went to a gig
where there was such an equal chance of crying with laughter or melancholy. Or
even the last time I went to a gig where dad-like dance moves were encouraged.
Or the last time someone endorsed Cyndi Lauper as still relevant (okay I lie,
she always is). But as Stella Donnelly and her
band awkwardly danced the crab, side-to-side across the stage of Scala, I couldn’t
help but confirm that she is one of the
most refreshing artists of the last few years.
Stella
and her band’s (“finally made some friends”) energy is infectious, from the first
tender pluck at the guitar to all the silly anecdotes about writing a
world-famous EDM song that’s “nothing like Sandstorm by Darude” to the way she
smiles heartily with her bandmates during wordless interludes. Stella Donnelly explores the kind of
cuddle-core guitar pop (or as my flatmate calls it, ‘Jangle Pop’) that will
not be out of place in a local used bookstore in Hackney. But the Australian
singer-guitarist is hardly the retiring type. “Your personality traits don’t
count/If you put your dick in someone’s face/And no, it’s never too late/We sat
there silently while you kept your job/And your place and your six-figure
wage,” she sings on her #Metoo masterpiece ‘Old
Man'.
Opening with restful ditty’s ‘Grey’ and ‘U Owe Me’ (a song about her old pub boss and terrible tasting VB),
Stella opens on her own and brings the crowd to a tentative silence. Her gently
conversational singing and drollery evokes a praised likening to other
indie-rock real-talkers from Belle & Sebastian to Courtney Barnett and Free
Cake For Every Creature. But her triumphant, and yet underrated, debut album ‘Beware of the Dogs’ is almost expertly
executed. And so is the lead track on its own terms, leading up to a crescendo
as she maps the anxieties of a 20-something year old.
‘Boys Will
Be Boys’ is the only moment Stella’s voice quivers under a slight rasp, as
she references the recent #MeToo movement in a personal narrative. It’s a
soul-touching moment, one that brings the entire crowd to silence. A song that
Stella intended at first to only be heard by a handful of people, she gained
quick attention for her 2017 song – a meticulous indictment of rape culture
that’s an unshakably powerful centrepiece. “Your father told you that you’re
innocent/told ya women rape themselves,” she sings over a guitar that’s
pointedly ironic in its reassuring softness, making every line feel more
devastating than the last.
Elsewhere, she returns to wield her wit as a
weapon against a world that shows little interest in meeting her expectations. ‘Old Man’, ‘Watching Telly’ and personal favourite ‘Season’s Greetings’ are jazzier live and induce some of the first
out of character movements from a typically invested but static London crowd (yes,
this is the northerner coming out of me). ‘Watching
Telly’ turns what should be a simple, funny bit of comedy into a commentary
on the link between sexism and capitalist commodification (apparently). The
combination of humour and craftsmanship means she always makes it out of the deepest
situations looking like a hero.
‘Bistro’
and ‘Die’ provide the “electronic”
part of the evening (see the aforementioned link to Darude). Stella Donnelly has been on a hell of a ride this year, releasing
her debut album to widespread love (including here), touring to adoring crowds,
releasing great videos and generally winning hearts everywhere. She and her
band wrapped up 2 months of touring this week with this excellent show at
London's Scala, but to add a cherry on top is the release of the video for
album highlight 'Die'. And even in her
live shows Donnelly and guitarist have some hilarious dance moves that emphasise
its effervescent playfulness. The video goes the other way, taking 'Die' to fatal extremes - but with a
comedic twist. With Donnelly taking up several roles, the video plays on
several classic horror and noir tropes, all glued together by the singer's
energy. Watch below.
‘Tricks’
takes on the perils of dating a selfish drunk, and affirms how incredible it is
to watch an artist so emotionally in touch with the goings-on of the world
around her, able to translate that into gutsy lyrics that still feel somewhat
uplifting. “I need to be alone” she calls; the sentiment of ‘Mechanical Bull’ not lost on a generation surrounded by a constant buzz.
In the moments she sings about love, she smiles, and in the moments sung about
hate and pain, she smiles. I know it should just be about the music, but it’s
impossible to separate the person from the sound in the case of Stella Donnelly.
Rounding out the gig, she chooses to return to a soulful rendition of cult classic ‘Mean to Me’; reminiscing about her embarrassing EP album cover and now “not so funny” title ‘Thrash Metal’. Her eyes flicking back and forth between individual faces in her crowd, each one of them completely absorbed by her energy. I even hear people singing along (shocking I know).
Returning
to the stage for an encore cover of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’, Stella and band sing along in joyful end to a fantastic
tour. They even share the gifts they have picked up on the way, including “Tesco’s
finest frisbee” and “a soccer ball, I mean football, from a service station in
Dublin”. The performance contains so much of the performer in the case of Stella Donnelly: everything about her
jaunty strumming to the way she jokingly flaunts her dance moves shines brightly
with sanguinity. Her final words to us on remain clear in a world consumed by
confusion, “I love you all so much.”
 |
| Instagram - @richmaver |
Stella Donnelly played:
1. Grey
2. U Owe Me
3. Beware of the Dogs
4. Mosquito
5. Allergies
6. Boys Will Be Boys
7. Old Man
8. Watching Telly
9. Season’s Greetings
10. Bistro
11. Die
12. Lunch
13. Tricks
14. Mechanical Bull
15. Mean to Me
16. Time after Time (Cyndi Lauper
cover)
Written by // Richard Maver
See Stella Donnelly play her NPR Tiny Desk Session here: