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M U S I C
Where opinion becomes fact. Bitches.
The Sincere Dagger
Nellie McKay at Largo - July 12th, 2007
A confession: It is the duty of the critic to be objective and unbiased in reporting what is, ostensibly, an honest opinion, using all of the facts and evidence at his or her disposal in doing so. It is with this in mind that I inform you, dear reader, of my unabashed admiration for one Nellie McKay. Despite the fact that she has yet to attain household name status, I deem her to be our most important contemporary singer/songwriter with a songbook that dazzles the imagination and touches the heart with depth, soul and wit. In short, she is everything I as a music fan have been waiting for. No matter how many times I've seen the girl live, I still greet every new performance with the kind of anticipation and excitement that first met me as I stood in line one Sunday night in March of 2005 at the Roxy. Perhaps it's because there an almost inherent guarantee that no two (or ten) Nellie McKay live concerts will ever be the same that creates such devotion amongst her most ardent admirers. True, she can be restrained, as she once was in her early performances, relying on a fairly predictable set list out of necessity but even still there has always been a restlessness behind her gee whiz veneer.
It's this same restlessness that imbues her albums with genre-defying compositions that negate any sort of categorization for their composer. Prior classifications that attempted to peg her down as a cross between Doris Day and Eminem now seem positively archaic and completely dismissive of the talent that she long since proven to posses. And yet there is one categorization that she cannot escape, a categorization that is as open ended as it is pigeonholing: New York singer/songwriter. Her music very much captures and contributes to the crash and class of the Apple. As such, it is always fascinating to see her away from her native shores and always a pleasure to witness her adapt to the most casual of venues.
L.A.'s Largo is known for its impossibly intimate atmosphere and lousy parking. With its dim lamps hanging overhead and night club decor, such an environment is entirely appropriate for one such as McKay considering the way in which she engages the audience through both her music and words. It's the kind of venue that invites the talent to let their guard down and be humbled by having to wade through the very audience they appeal to as they make their way to the stage. And so it was with Nellie as the crowd cheered her like a monarch, she entered a commoner.
Cutting through her own adulation were the chasing piano lines of Oversure which segued subtly to a jazzy gem of a new tune, both of which are featured on her forthcoming long player, Obligatory Villagers. The set openers along with several other new tracks that were auditioned showcased a developed thematic range that displayed her maturity as a songwriter. If her debut Get Away From Me was a declamatory rallying call for her social and political views and the follow up Pretty Little Head an introspective look at the psyche of the woman, Villagers may prove to be her most daring work yet combining the consciousness of her early work with a strong lyrical emphasis on theatricality and storytelling.
The evening was a well balanced mix of old and new, incorporating songs from her dual double disc sets as Inner Peace, the breezy Pounce and the audience-participation aided Work Song. Adding an element of the nostalgic, she interrupted her own set by getting up from her piano bench throne to play classic covers on her ukulele, a moment which has now become an endearing interlude for many of her more recent shows.
Although it is reassuring to hear the often jaded Los Angeles audience respond positively to McKay and her antics, it seems unfortunate that her reputation as an entertainer precedes her as the Largo audience chortled and chuckled when McKay broke from her performance, engaging in a dialogue that is equal parts scolding and satirical. True, the girl is very often funny and songs such as I Wanna Get Married and Won't U Please B Nice feature scathing wordplay that cuts like a sincere dagger, but I find audiences often use laughter as a means to diffuse the impact of her words and write of her woes as the ramblings of just another loopy leftist. Such a reaction also seems to anticipate a far more ironic subtext that seems more forced upon by the audience than is actually present within her. When she's onstage, there just isn't a dishonest bone in Nellie's body.
Following her set proper, McKay emerged from the back with an encore performance of Clonie eliciting a riotous reaction to the lyric, "Should've signed with Verve instead of Sony, you're my Clonie." Leaving her public ever wanting more, she retreated once again to a world of mystery and shadows (read: Largo's kitchen).
As a fan, it is impossible for me to grasp why Nellie McKay isn't selling out stadiums and arenas across the nation with performances as brilliant as her turn at Largo this evening but as a critic I understand all too well the general public's complete indifference towards talent. As such, she has inspired the same cultish following that has made Velvet Underground and Pixies legends and deservedly so. As I stood in the background, watching her charm and mingle with her fans, a thought occurred. It's clear that Nellie is aware of her status as a personality, but I wonder if she truly understands her importance as a writer. For that matter, does any truly great talent understand his or her role in the larger, continually unfolding story of their generation? Perhaps such musings are intended for later generations, when tastes have shifted and retrospective re-evaluations run rampant. For now however, her music and nights such as these are better left for her fans, the lucky ones that have been affected by her music from the very start.