After returning from a successful set at the V festival as the early day “surprise hit” slot on the day Dido headlined, POLLY PAULUSMA is nevertheless happy to be communing with her own fans in a small club atmosphere. With her tunefully contemporary, slightly edgy singer-songwriter approach, she is from the same mould as the Norah Jones and Sheryl Crow brigade. Only vastly superior.
The hush isn’t exactly complete as Polly enters with acoustic guitar in hand. There's chatter and Camden's Lock 17 is only about two-thirds full tonight. Still, things start to look good early on, with Oli Hayhurst on double bass, Rastko Rasic supporting on drums and a 3-piece string selection lending light and shade.
“Dark Side” and “Give it Back” are first up this evening: both released as singles over the last few months and notable for the way the British singer emotes with an American accent, singing “this sweet life's only been borrowed” with a distinct Transatlantic twang. Both songs soar and are gloriously simple.
Friends, family and newly acquired fans gather in font of the stage, eager to hear the first notes of her set; the loyal gathering throwing Polly off by singing along entirely word for word. Your reviewer gets the feeling such a reaction is still something she's new to.
The strings start up on the “I Was Made To Love You” but never cross the sickly sweet line. The results are light, intelligently lush and crisp.
Polly's own musical history is intriguing. She was originally a backing singer in what she described as “ the last hurrah in my musical career” on Ben and Jason's underrated farewell 2001 album “Ten Songs About You.” But the music bug bit hard, and - having recorded 40 songs to choose from - she went about releasing her debut album “Scissors In My Pocket” on One Little Indian where she is a stablemate of admirable talents such as Bjork and Jesse Malin. To her credit, she's not usurped easily by them, either.
Indeed, when it comes to faster, catchier, uplifting numbers she can't be faulted. The new, non-album tunes, though, are less instant, mostly of the piano crafted variety and are heavily stamped with the influence of Norah Jones. When accompanied by laid-back, jazz-driven vocal workouts, this can become a little tedious. When she does slow too, she can also be a tad haphazard. Still, there's enough quality here to suggest a bright future for Polly as the songs that sag are only a minor spinkling of the set.
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Besides, she also has songs like “She Moves In Secret Ways” and new single “Over The Hill” (released on September 20th) in reserve. These are Joni Mitchell-esque tunes, hook-laden and boasting soaring melodies and insightful lyrics. Not surprisingly, these get the biggest response from the audience.
After thanking most of the audience individually by name, “Something To Remember Me By” moves the set to a close. It's a mournfully dark pop tune and the audience are hooked and gulp in unison. She follows this up with another piano solo as an encore before finally leaving the stage to rapturous approval from the crowd.
Although it's true Polly's never quite lost on stage, (even though the projector is badly positioned and shines in her face throughout), her true personality never really shines through tonight. The music is pretty and she is in many ways exactly what it says on the tin: i.e background garden party music: albeit served with punch and an unlikely warmth and heart.
Actually, Polly Paulusma seems like the kind of artist who could be made on the back of good press and more importantly word of mouth, rather like Damien Rice and David Grey. Both of those have gradually garnered major record sales on the back of such well received chinese whispers, so it's surely possible with Polly too.
She turned in a very respectable performance tonight which floated like a butterfly but sometimes forgot to sting like a bee.
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