I was invited to this album launch show at Third Man Records in Soho, where Beyonce was the last artist to put in a personal appearance, On the Thursday before this Monday night gig to launch Kitten Feel, Bethia Beadman's fourth solo album having also been a member of Circulus and Hole among other bands, this was also her first performance with her new backing band.
The show took place in the shops cramped basement studio, that was sweltering hot by the time Bethia and her band made their way gingerly through the audience, onto the postage stamp stage. Bethia looked somewhat nervous as they opened with the first slow notes of the title track to the new album Kitten Feel, that had a fragile beauty with Bethia's vocals reminding me of Mary Lorson's solo work.
There was a bit of a pause before Balcony was slowly picked out by Bethia with Paul Sim's gentle tickling of his keyboards adding more emotion, while Bethia sang about her schemes to get into a sold-out show while asking if she knew where he went too.
Still My Baby was the first older song and one written with Mike Mills from her Into The Peace album, it felt achingly familiar, Bethia explained why no matter what had gone on you were Still My Baby and I stood trying to figure out who I last saw her drummer playing with, Bethia sounded fragile but assured. Bethia then claimed to be Lady London all about a transatlantic love affair with a Southern Gentleman and how he brought out the black dog in her, with all the sadness this brings as the relationship falls apart.
Horses wasn't the Patti Smith monument, but a new song about surviving one encounter too many with Horse and everything that needed to be done to keep her breathing and singing dark epistles of the soul, with the sparse intimacy the band evoked. It was I think at this point that the three women stood next too me decided to leave, that made Bethia address the audience for the first time, bidding them adieu, before she told us that she had something up her sleeve, to deal with those that have wronged her during Brick, a dark tale from the edges of despair.
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She then took us back to the deep south of Georgia from The Old Ships album this is a tale that Bethia told us was about being in the south and deeply in love with a man, who would ultimately let her down. They stayed by the lake in Georgia for Dragonfly a tale about when her beau managed to let his ring slip off his finger, into the murky water and she had a vision where she could see the ring so dived in and retrieved it, which gave this a rather hopeful edge to it.
Bethia seemed to grow in confidence as the set progressed, that was apparent in her more strident vocals during Tomorrow where she tries to get beyond her fears, begging for us to all give her a little bit more time and consideration. It's Not too Late was a plea to not give up on your love just yet, things can still work out and happiness can be yours. Bethia then thanked us all for coming to this album launch and told us how much of a fan she is of Marianne Faithful's music and how the last time she saw Marianne play live she made the same mistake in Time Square that Bethia often does when playing the song, before giving us a heartfelt rendition that was full of emotion for the star crossed lovers strolling across Time Square, that brought this show to its conclusion and a huge ovation from everyone cramped into the basement, most of whom queued up to buy a copy of Kitten Feel afterwards.
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