Live Reviews


  Polly Paulusma, Anna Sweeney, Laura Healy live at Pivo Pivo in Glasgow



paula paulusma

There is this dream that I keep having. She sort of looks away from me and I watch her dark hair fall over her face. She looks at me for a moment with her azure eyes but I can’t say anything. I want to but I can’t. I wonder if she knows. I’m sure she does. She’s always there. In that dream.

Wide awake now, I find myself in Pivo Pivo.  On a Sunday night which, all things being equal, is a bit unusual in itself. Less unusual is the presence of Laura Healy. A long time favourite of this Bluesbunny, she’s got that poise and confidence that makes her songs, even the new ones, seem like old friends.

Even more endearing, if that were possible, to these ears was Anna Sweeney.  Possessed of a convincing fragility, she took both acoustic guitar and keyboards and turned them into her foils in the battle against the cold harshness of the world. In all honesty, I was charmed by her and I, for the record, do not have even have a heart. “Gosh Darnit” took the Fiona Apple award for deeper meaning but Anna Sweeney was always a long way from the shallow end of the pool.

The main event, as it were, was Polly Paulusma. Three albums in, she exuded confidence in a set of quite impressive length In which she managed to maintain the kind of impetus and inherent sensitivity that are the mark of the committed performer. In simple terms of lyrical content, she sings songs of meaning that echo with the reverb of emotional contentment. I was going to say once bitten twice shy but that would be a cliché and I, like Polly Paulusma, don’t do clichés.

Three women and one goddess. Not bad for a Sunday night.



Reviewer:
Review Date: September 2 2012


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