Picture this: getting stoned in France. Sounds 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' – if you're into that sort of thing. For me, it's really only a figurative thought. A fitting but figurative thought that I have while watching Angus Stone perform “Yellow Brick Road” – a sobering ballad off his latest album Down The Way, at au Cafe' de la Danse in Paris. It's an authentic performance of a simple, yet niftily subversive work that carries a good whiff of substance: a pot full of natural talent laced with cliches and drug references. You're bound to be affected.
"Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.
Sweet Mary-Jane - won't you lay me down?"
Snobs might take comfort in shutting their eyes – stage conventions will be thwarted. Angus, a disheveled bloke better known as the brother-half of Australia's most organic sibling duo, Angus & Julia Stone, looks rather emblematic tonight. (I wonder if he is trying to channel a Koala or a wasted Bee Gee?) His curiously mild and introverted stage presence is a, possibly accidental, work of subversion itself - you're drawn in because you can tell he's willing to share something personal, though he doesn't seem to be seeking your attention at all...
He looks underprepared, but he's already started. You could easily accuse him of failing to 'engage' with the audience... I catch him smiling to himself, though it's hard to make out his face because he's so unshaven. He's careless enough to turn his back to us completely (more than once) later on. Right now, he's rather immersed in his guitar strings and his own little world of words, only just aware of the other band members around him. His sister Julia, who usually appears to be quite affected by the experience of being on stage, sits casually in the background. She sips on a glass of water a few bars in, still preparing to convulse over her piano keys. I hope she'll survive the whole ordeal that might unfold without falling off her chair or injuring herself - she could easily have hysteria...
"Lost my heart in California, lost my mind.
Shot me down with a revolver, got me high"
The performance that unfolds is minimalistic and markedly effortless. It's simple: Angus plucks the same strings over and over, without a pinch of effort and whispers all the right words at all the right times. Julia cautiously throws in some harmonies and appropriate chords, trying not to steal the limelight. Still, you're never sure of what will happen next: will Angus fall asleep soon? Will Julia stay on her chair? Might one of the pair attempt to crowd-surf? The addition of a drum-kit and electric guitar in the second verse make it all seem a little more legitimate, while increasing in intensity: the audience react excitedly - they're totally plugged in.
Stage conventions aside, this quiet trip to 'dreary-land' is totally transporting, especially if you close your eyes. The journey is brought together by perfect timing and a seamless development of intensity. A brilliant guitar solo and imaginative subversions of familiar images like “a spoonful of sugar”, the “yellow brick road” and anything that lies over a rainbow, also play a part. Altogether, Angus' performance is captivating, uplifting, delicate and fresh. He serves up a quietly disenchanted lullaby that doesn't put you to sleep. It simply entrances you, leaving you spellbound instead.
*I wasn't actually in Paris, just watched the video on Youtube :P
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