Live Review: Marlon Williams

Some would say that opening your sold-out Dark Mofo show with a cover of Roberta Flack's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is an ambitious move, but then Marlon Williams is in a brave and experimental place tonight and he lands it well.

Chests swell, breath quickly catches in throats, and punters in the Odeon thankfully shut the hell up - rushing from the bar to the floor to witness a solo cover that truly brings something unique to the original. Longtime collaborators The Yarra Benders pile on stage to join Williams for Come To Me - the opener from his latest release Make Way For Love - but there are some kinks to iron out before they're able to soar. Sound issues ensue with William's guitar and The Benders take a while to find the pocket. But bent string effects from Dave Kahn make the violin sound like a lap steel; drawing us in and adding a teaser of the weird and masterful complexity that will follow.

"It's good to be in spooky 'ol Tassie," Williams simmers with a shiver. "I know it's particularly spooky around Dark Mofo time but still... you can always feel it here." All the while his Twin Peaks-esque keyboard tremolo in The Fire Of Love perfectly enhances the landscape of spook.

It's not often these days you see a mid-20s male performer in full suit with eyes closed, hips slowly rotating while crooning things like "Let me wear you like a beautiful dress". Williams uses restraint as generously as he attacks with that slathering bellow of a masterfully trained tenor and its effects are startling. By now The Benders have caught up with Williams and the full light show has kicked in, reminding us what a pleasure it is to see the Odeon resplendent and gleaming, finally cleared of its cobwebs with full lighting rig in action, in sold-out capacity after a considerably chequered history over the last few years.

The choice to cover Yoko Ono proves an interesting one - the song doesn't quite fit William's aesthetic, losing the crowd for a moment - but on Can I Call You he busts out some Monster Mash grasshopper dance moves that add a whole new depth of performance and all is forgiven. In great contrast to the rest of the set, Party Boy pushes up the tempo and shows more grizzly, metallic guitars with rougher edges that are more dirty and satisfying. Bassist Ben Woolley covers Aldous Harding's harmonies in Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore and it's rich and glorious, lacking nothing for Harding's absence.

Williams returns for the first encore literally stripped-back, wearing only suit pants and tight white tee. He sits at his keyboard, flicks back his considerable quiff and whispers to a fan, "I really think you're gonna like this one," winking at her before launching into an astonishing version of Love Is A Terrible Thing. In his closing cover, Screamin' Jay Hawkins' Portrait Of A Man, Williams uses stillness and silence to great effect before it becomes apparent that he's been holding back most of his energy in the show for this final chorus. He pushes out a staggering series of wails and falsettos over the final chords -  disarming us and completely redeeming any of the uneven corners of the first part of the show. Make no mistake, this guy knows exactly what he's doing and has proven himself to be a true triple threat.