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For one of the celebrated voices of Zero 7, pantomime tomfoolery starts early this year with Sia Furler and the band gracing the stage with fluorescent green and pink masks and costumes in the cooped pen of Edinburgh's Cabaret Voltaire. The opening funky dance-pop of 'Buttons' sees ghosts in everything she does as Sia belts out, note perfect with that expressive voice.. "Thanks for coming and squishing" she says in squeaky appreciation and ebullient spirits. With a voice so fragile yet strong, poised like paper thin glass, 'Little Black Sandals' leads into the jazzy bass-noodle of 'Lentils' in homage to her wee pooch she left behind in Oz, singing how "...I never meant to let you down...".
MOR-ish tracks such as 'Day Too Soon' are saved from mediocrity by Sia's black coffee-ed tones and heartfelt demeanour as she bridges with her fans - "What fans she asks?" as she narrates how Island told her she can't record a pop album "cause you're a down-tempo artist - You'll confuse the fans!". So, hey, you can find a way to download the album for free 'cause Island ain't putting the pop album out, no sir! Sia introduces the XTC-like bubblegum pop 'The Co-dependent' with a caped crusader superhero in the wings who can rescue those conversations which hinge on that elusive one word which remains just out of reach - the H-Crusader is at hand to whisper that word into your ear to make perfect sense of it all. With the opening keyboards of 'Sunday', you'd be forgiven that this was a cover of Strawberry Fields, but the five-piece band in tow have earned their crust and savvy with recognition in Sia's eyes - this is so and so "He's sexual!", leading to the confessional Freudian slip - "But we had sex 10 years ago" she says as the bassist trys to wiggle out of his discomfiture, swiftly, amidst the cackling.
With the old tunes held at bay until now, Sia introduces 'Destiny' with the intro - "This is very much a sexual number" to keep the frisson alive, "...when I'm weak I draw strength from you..." perhaps one of her finest moments, while for 'Macadamia' she asks the audience to insert their own words because there are so many words and verses she may forget some, words like "frogger or pantaloons" are encouraged, singing "...if you are a number/ you're infinity plus one...", whilst 'The Girl You Lost To Cocaine' mires itself in ploddy-pop. 'You Have Been Loved' finds Sia in her mien with an emotive universal love-song at odds with the jabbering fuckwits who invariably come to gigs and can't shut the fuck up (are they bussed around to gigs?? Do I have an issue - Yes! Fucking listen and show some respect!).
The fantasy-feel of the evenings' opening is mirrored with the playpen-pop of 'Playground' that finds the inner-child full of fun-filled gaiety with the verses "...I don't want to grow up...bring me all the toys you can find...", but its' the truly touching songs such as 'Breathe Me' which featured on the closing sequence of 'Six Feet Under' that raise anticipation and appreciation, and here the cello-score adds emotion to Sia's voice in full tilt, poised as it is between cries of agony and ecstasy.
With mixed feelings, and not wanting to cheat the fans out of an encore, "...because people had paid and I'd feel a bit of a cunt..." and the record company advised it's a good way to go, because anything else would be anti-climactic, so we can rest safe in the knowledge that an encore is forthcoming as the fairground carousel of 'Electric Bird' takes us on and no time for a pee-break as the oldie 'Taken For Granted' whoops with the sampled-score from Prokofiev's 'Dance Of The Knights'.- "...you said you'd be a minute/ but you've been 22..." and "...I ain't waiting/ I ain't waiting..." wails. Closing with the Zero 7 classic, 'Distractions', in dedication this time to the guys at the back when the more obtuse and abrasive counsel to "Shut the Fuck Up" would have proved more fitting, it's the concluding number to an artist with no fear to innovate and explore artistic directions, whether it be pop, down-tempo, R & B or acid-jazz, seeking expression for her emotive and jewelled voice with a lacerating vulnerability in the chorus - "...I only make jokes to distract myself/ from the troouuth/ from the troooouth...".. Just who's going to put out her fourth album 'Some People Have Real Problems' with Island having given the old shoulder - it's open to a wager.
