Live Review: Beth Orton, Vorhees

Vorhees, aka New Yorker Dana Wachs, was stoked to be touring Australia for the first time — and in particular playing Perth — having accompanied local heroes Methyl Ethel around the States. Fighting off 30 hours of jet lag, she nonetheless entranced the Rosemount with a beguiling set that was hard to categorise. Manipulating a battery of analogue gear to create layers of on-the-spot loops, she conjured a distinctive dream pop sound, one built around crafty hooks, aching e-bow guitar and all manners of vintage sounds. Credit to Beth Orton for bringing out this up-and-comer.

A casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that Beth Orton seemed a tad nervous at first, surprisingly so for an artist with a 20-plus year career. Personal challenges may have included fending off a nasal downpour — she was careful to warn the front rows against taking those up-the-nose angle snaps — and recollecting recent events closer to home, as a last-minute set change took place with a heartbreaking solo performance of Blood Red River. Another significant concern may have been how to combine predominantly electronic material from her new album Kidsticks with her older, more intimate songs. The answer was to plunge straight into the new, with driving, slightly frosty versions of Dawnstar and Falling, before easing into the familiar warmth of Touch Me With Your Love.

Orton's voice rendered a magnetic effect across the entire room; her apparent vulnerabilities and occasional quirkiness only making her all the more endearing. While it may be going too far to say Orton is the most expressive singer, no one expresses themselves as she does. Some singers can make their voice tremble — Beth Gibbons of Portishead comes to mind — but no one does like Orton can. Neither does any other voice surge and diminish in volume in quite the same way as hers did tonight. 

After a lightning fast gap in between the main set and encore, Orton returned to confess that she was about to play bass live on stage for the first time in her "entire fucking life". After Thinking About Tomorrow, she closed with a wonderfully folky Call Me the Breeze, bringing to an end a wonderful ride of emotions.