With her unique mixture of subtle acoustic finger picking, wild lyrics and Rat pedal distorted guitar riffs Cate Le Bon’s headline set at The Lexington in Kings Cross finished off a class night. With stand out support from Lawrence Arabia and a genius finger picked violin cover of Beyoncé’s Single Ladies by the first act, the pressure was on a bit. Despite a couple of sound level issues, the Welsh singer, who was as much a part of what made Neon Neon so great as Griff Rhys, shone like a diamond.
Opening with Me Oh My and missing out a verse, according to comic complaints from the rest of the band, things start on light tones, but the dark shadows that define Cate Le Bon aren’t far away with discordant organ music and haunting vocals.
This is built on with Eyes So Bright and Sad Sad Feet, but the full strength of Le Bon kicks in with Hollow Tree House Hounds, which is darker than tar and has a distorted guitar riff that hooks you right through the chest.
Shoeing The Bones brings everything back to subtlety with its finger picked acoustic guitar and glassy vocals calling out “these are hard times to fall in love”.
Having toured with Lawrence Arabia for a while, Cate Le Bon has found the time to write a duet with James Milne, who comes on stage close to the end of the set to sing with the band. Called That’s What You Get For Loving Me (we’re pretty sure), it is a tongue in cheek ode to loving the wrong person.
Despite a couple of hiccups and tough acts to follow, Cate Le Bon put in a quality-cut show that typified her unwavering connection to her roots and featuring the sounds of her debut album, Me Oh My.
Cate Le Bon Lexington gig review: 4/5
