Archive for the ‘Lenka’ Category
Lenka – Live at the Media Club, Vancouver
Photographs by Jennifer Picard
Anyone with a sweet tooth would have loved Lenka’s saccharine performance at the Media Club in Vancouver last night. Cavity-inducing and incredibly charming, Lenka and her band delivered bubblegum pop, radiant with positivity and authenticity. The stage’s décor was a collection of cardboard and wood anime-influenced toadstools and colourful trinkets, and the room was scattered with youthful and enthusiastic fans.
Mint Records’ Kellarissa and her vintage Yamaha SK-15 synth were put to the task of entertaining an impatient and restless crowd. A former member of P:ano and The Choir Practice, Larissa Loyva has embarked on a solo project that seems to be a study in experimentation. Her vocalization, dripping in echo, reverb and delay, is like Bjork rehearsing Gregorian chants with Delerium. Judging by the buzz of conversation and minimal clapping between songs, her short set was an intense demonstration of what not to play to a crowd of pop fans. The layered loops and sophisticated song constructions were organic and intriguing, but mostly unfinished and rough around the edges. However talented and creative she may be, Loyva failed to connect with her audience, which is the biggest mistake an opening act can make. When she announced her last song, the crowd actually cheered, heaving a collective sigh of relief and craving Lenka’s straight-up pop.
A former teen actress (who studied with Cate Blanchett) and member of band Decoder Ring in her native Australia, Lenka Kripac has been based in Los Angeles since 2007, releasing her debut solo effort in the fall of 2008. Her image is sugary sweet: candy colours, bird-heavy illustrations and Miranda July art-school quirkiness. In the last six months, her songs have been featured in commercials for Telus and Old Navy, and on shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty.
Backed by solid players John Graney (guitar, keys, vocals), Danny Levin (horns, keys), Erik Kertes (bass, glockenspiel), and Stella Mozgawa (drums), Lenka arrived on stage just after 10:30pm. The band launched into “Trouble is a Friend”, Lenka’s yellow bird earrings swinging to and fro. With one eyebrow raised, she flashed her dimples and hammed it up.
“You’re gorgeous,” cried a fan. “We love the Aussies!”
Aussie or not, it was hard not to be magnetized by her undeniable stage presence, a sharp contrast to Kellarissa’s deficient charisma.
Gum-chewing drummer Mozgawa led the group into “Knock Knock” as Lenka shook her tambourine and shimmied around the stage. For “Skipalong”, she debuted a mini-keyboard, hung around her neck and decorated with one red felt heart. Throughout her performance, Lenka’s sense of humour imbued each of her songs, a sequence of progressively exaggerated and campy selections. Despite the over-the-top enthusiasm, Lenka is a genuine and heartfelt performer with a fresh innocence which flouts her age and the jaded business of rock ‘n’ roll. Her band was not overshadowed by her exuberance: anchoring bass lines, energetic drumming, gorgeous harmonies and crisp horns coloured her endearing vocals and lyrics.
“It’s all up to you / use what’s been given to you,” Lenka sang during “Live Like You’re Dying”, accompanied by her female fans, mouthing the words with eyes closed. It was one of those “singing-into-hairbrushes-romantic-comedy-scene”-type crowds, ok?
Radiowaves from WWII (which, if you get the frequency right, can still be heard in the air today) accompanied Lenka’s a capella version of “Like A Song”, haunting and further proof of her chops. During “The Show”, she requested the audience’s participation, the entire crowd singing “I want my money back!” at the top of their lungs. “You guys are a wonderful drunken choir,” she commented at the end. She had a false start on the bluesy (and new) “Pull Me Apart”. After fumbling on the keys, she said, “Ok, focus. Ready? Am I ready?” Several times throughout the show, she had to ask audience members stage right to quieten down, surprisingly distracted was she by drunken antics. After this point in the set, the show became somewhat of a dance party, complete with overhead clapping and head bobbing.
“I really like Vancouver,” she remarked, explaining that it was making her homesick for Sydney.
The band then launched into “We Will Not Grow Old”, a song inspired by high school ideas about growing up and wanting to remain child-like forever. Called back for an encore, the band performed “Wrote Me Out”, co-written with AFI’s Hunter Burgan and a track that wasn’t included on her album.
Audience participation? Check!
Singalongs? Check!
Overhead clapping? Check!
Kazoos? Check!
Cuteness overload? Check!
All the makings of a great pop show.
MP3:
Lenka – The Show
Lenka – Don’t Let Me Fall
Buy at:
Amazon / CD Universe
Lenka – Lenka Review
Lenka is a Czechoslovakian name, the artist Lenka Kripac, known simply as Lenka has a Czech background but actually from Australia. Lenka was an Australian television actress turned musician. Anyone think of Natalie Imbruglia just now? I sure did.
Lenka started off her music career in experimental band, Decoder Ring (actually some very good stuff) which you probably would not in a million years expect these two artists to be related as one seems to be a post-rock outfit where Lenka’s self titled disc seems poised to hit up the mainstream.
Speaking of mainstream for pseudo-indie artists (it’s a term I like to use for major labels artists who have yet to get over the proverbial hump) like Lenka, it’s to appear in commercials and television shows like Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy.
Lenka has a pretty good voice that is reminiscent of Regina Spektor (with less range) and Yael Naim, her songs are good pop songs that probably belong to be shown to a wider audience rather then elitist indie website…
There are a lot of cute pop songs on this album that are undeniably catchy and while I do think she’s quite talented, initially impressions don’t hold up. I think the problem with some singers using studio enhancements to improve their vocals, it takes a lot more to impress people with just a “nice voice”. I think most people would take the unique voice (see Santogold) over the straight up standard voice any day of the week. Otherwise to be a straight pop/folk artist either takes elite song writing or conveying of emotions to its maximum potential.
Lenka just isn’t unique enough and probably qualifies more as a guilty pleasure then someone I could admit to liking. The album really isn’t a failure nor bad in any sense, but in some sense I can just as easily understand why she isn’t as popular.
Rating: 3 out of 5
I like more then a few tracks. It’s a solid album with no real stand outs nor enough uniqueness to draw more attention to her. I have trouble choosing the best songs or the worst songs and it just ends up being mediocre.
Tomorrow, I’ll be reviewing another Australian singer I think that is unique enough, basically on the same label but has that uniqueness to go far (not getting the same North American push).
The Show by Lenka
Trouble Is A Friend by Lenka
