Lindi Ortega @ NAC
This is never going to quite float my boat
There's a double bill of Canadian singer songwriters appearing at Norwich Arts Centre tonight, and when artists are prepared to travel 4000 miles to play, the least I can do is tackle the six mile journey into Norwich to watch, even on a frosty Tuesday in January.
First up is Jordan Klassen from Vancouver, who mixes tracks from his upcoming album Javelin with older songs like the haunting Go To Me . With an acrobatic voice that switches without warning from a breathy whisper to a piercing head register, the set becomes somewhat of a vocal rollercoaster. However, the casually dressed and amiable British Columbian wins me over. Despite his admiration of our architectural heritage and the dissing of the shower-heads in British hotel bathrooms, Gargoyles is a song about looking forward, typifying and reflecting the entire theme of Javelin, which itself deserves a proper listen.
Lindi Ortega, now based in Nashville but originally from Toronto, has the nickname 'Indi Lindi'. I'm therefore anticipating something more gritty than her stage persona suggests. With long dark tresses and a black net veil, accompanied with thigh-skimming black skirt and red sleeveless cowboy shirt showing off the tattoos, I'm suspicious that this may simply be a Nashville take on the late great Amy Winehouse. The voice is strong, and the influences do include both jazz and soul, but the result is still much more Dolly Parton than Amy. I'm not a great fan of pure Country and Western (remember, I'm here as the curious observer) and, quite frankly, this is never going to quite float my boat. A countrified Desperado initially appears to be a condolent tribute to Glenn Fry, who passed away earlier today, but I later find that the cover is merely part of her usual set. However, the wonderfully soulful rendition of Ring of Fire closing the encore is an absolute cracker. The rest of the repertoire is the familiar 'catching-my-man' kind of stuff. In that skirt in this country in January, Lindi, you are also liable to catch a cold, or even cystitis.
