Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh
4 stars
Film-maker David Lynch
may not have the same high profile he once did, but he sure
recognises a muse when he sees and hears one. Cue Chrysta Bell, the
Texan chanteuse with whom he wrote and produced the 2011 This Train
album. Lynch isn't in attendance for Bell's debut Scottish
performance in a venue which probably most closely resembles a
Lynchian fantasy night-club this side of the pond, but he is on film.
His typically opaque introduction refers to Bell as a song-bird, but
in truth, as she and her three-piece bar-band open with the thrusting
bump and grind of Real Love, she's much more than that.
Jet-black
apparelled, flame-haired and impossibly cheek-boned, Ms Bell presents
a magnificently studied burlesque-style persona. It's her voice that
matters, though, in a set of songs full of light and shade, but which
in a live context transcend any notions of mere mood music. There's a
dramatic and emotive stridency behind her singing, which leans
towards an east European sensibility. As well as selections from
Lynch's soundtracks, there are covers of Be-Bop-A-Lula and Baby,
Please Don't Go, with Bell occasionally strapping on a big white
guitar to complete her perfect ensemble.
One or two fawning
references to Lynch too many makes one wonder exactly who's in
control, especially when she announces a song which he apparently
wouldn't allow to be on the album. Then, as she cuts loose on an old
number from her Texas days, something wonderful happens. As the mask
slips, we get a hint of who Chrysta Bell actually is beyond the
dressing-up box, and it's an equally beguiling experience.
The Herald, May 24th 2013
ends
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