Gig review: Alex Berger @ Rodewald Suite, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Saturday 3rd July 2010
Alex Berger‘s debut at the Philharmonic Hall’s Rodewald Suite marks the arrival of a major new voice on the British music scene. Berger has spent much of the last decade writing and performing in New York whose geographic influence is clearly heard through the material but what marks out the mainly piano based songs and steers them away from inevitable comparisons to the likes of Ben Folds is the rich canyon of British influences that kept the audience guessing and left this reviewer still searching for a genre after two hours.
These are quite simply beautifully crafted songs with direct, honest and often witty lyrics that are no less visionary and poetic in their outlook. A personal favourite for me was ‘Your Last Night In Queens’ which had one of the strongest piano riffs of the night and reminded me of albums such as Kate Bush’s ‘Lionheart’ (without the clutter) or the bygone and much missed days of a perfectly sane Elton John when such tracks could regularly be found tucked away on albums like ‘Tumbleweed Connection’ or ‘Honky Chateau’. This is no retro sound by any means though; what stood out was the freshness of often complicated arrangements with some pretty impressive playing and put one more in mind of recent writers such as Tina Dico or Zero 7’s fantastic 2006 album ‘The Garden’.
Songs of this calibre can withstand anything from the most stripped down to the most detailed treatment from a producer and Berger’s live and recording career looks comfortably set to embrace both. By the end of the evening, his hugely impressive debut recording ‘Snow Globe‘ had been played in its entirety and there are a cluster of imminent performances around the country including York, Leeds and London.
‘Snow Globe’ is available on iTunes and CD Baby and if the gig was anything to go by this is a musician that will be around for many years to come.
alexbergermusic.com
myspace.com/alexbergermusic
© 2010 Mike Neary – neary72[at]hotmail.com