Anna Meredith live review
So much of the appeal of Anna Meredith’s music lies in its compositional complexity and poise that attempting to reproduce it on stage seems almost an exercise in self-sabotage. Tonight, however, it works, on the whole. A cadre of exceptional musicians conducted by Meredith and driven by an extraordinarily tight tuba/drums rhythm section, do justice to the knotty work. Occasionally, the shear volume combines with Meredith’s more labyrinthine textures to make a slightly muddy blare that rather undermines the latticework precision her songs demands, but slower, simpler tracks are rendered exquisitely.
Meredith encores with Never Wonder, her chopped and screwed reimagining of Jennifer Rush’s Power of Love, complete with toy-shop percussion and gurgling electronics: brash and unpredictable, virtuoso and decidedly zany, it’s a fitting summation of the performance.
