Cate Le Bon has been very busy in the studio over the last few years, but not just making her own music. Over the last handful of years she’s been busy helping to craft the finished products from artists such as Wilco, St. Vincent, Horsegirl and Dry Cleaning but she managed to find enough time for herself to create Michelangelo Dying, her seventh record and first since 2022’s Pompeii (is there an Italian-based trilogy in the making?)
The last time I saw Cate play was when Wilco invited her to their Mexican festival where her Welsh heritage looked at odds with the blazing Caribbean sun as she played the beach stage. She also had a very compact band for that performance, just a saxophone player and a drummer.
Dylan Hadley was also present on drums for this tour, and extra elements of tone and texture were brought forth via a bass player, a keyboardist (Paul Jones) who kept a sax handy for a song, Euan Hinshelwood, the guitarist/saxophonist/singer to Cate’s right and tucked behind him was percussionist Stephen Black who also played guitar and yep, you guessed it – sax.
The band came out unified sartorially, white on white aside from Toko Yasuda who was drenched in black; she’s done extensive work with St. Vincent prior to joining Le Bon’s touring team in 2022. The focus on presentation belies Le Bon’s attention to detail during the songwriting process. There are no wasted moments, notes, or pauses. Though sounding noting like The Velvet Underground or solo John Cale music, perhaps the Welsh share a focus on getting things meticulously correct, as that thread runs throughout both artists’ work. I don’t think it was a chance meeting that found them co-writing “Ride” together.
If you like the new record, and there’s a lot on offer, a generous nine songs were played. The stately “Jerome” kicks off the record, with Le Bon’s vocal melody hovering high and low over the central chord note, and that was the first song we got, followed by “Love Unrehearsed.” Though “Miami” wasn’t played, my second favorite from Pompeii (“Moderation”) made up for it. Though the material and the pacing of the show was on the slower side, it was another mesmerizing performance from Le Bon and she held the sold-out room in rapt attention.
Frances Chang set up her gear in the middle of the stage, surrounded by all of instruments Le Bon’s band would be using later. It felt like she was in a little bit of an island, just her keyboard, a laptop, a couple of mixers and an assortment of pedals. She was soft-spoken but assured, her gentle songs showing some stereo phasing and tonal qualities from her keyboard that effectively mimicked bass or electric guitar at times.
