Exotic, Beautiful, Talented Emiliana Torrini Wows her Adoring Mercury Crowd
Emiliana Torrini should have headlined the Bowery Ballroom for three reasons. 1) She just finished a great big U.S. tour with fellow trip-pop lady Dido, and Tricky requested her as his own touring muse. 2) She's suitably exotic (half-Icelandic and half-Italian), charmingly beautiful and young. 3) She sports one of the most painfully sweet voices I've heard in years. Performing early to an adoring crowd of fans and geeky industry types, Torrini and her three-piece band wowed the Mercury Lounge with songs from last fall's Love in the Time of Science, her ear-catching debut.
The night went from grating to good. After the lug of a bouncer harassed me and my friend about our IDs, we waited in Mercury's smoke-filled hallway for what seemed like eternity. By the time Torrini appeared, I just wanted to take a nap. Good thing I didn't, as Torrini graced the stage in a black headscarf, matching dress and fitted jeans like some Sophia Loren-Björk hybrid from the planet Euro. Huge eyes, high cheekbones, an angelic moonlike face. Her drummer looked like a seasoned pro, while the cute stand-up bassist and synth player seemed dutifully chill. Not quite as beatific as Torrini, the band wore suits and ties and devilish smirks.
"Easy" and "Summerbreeze" wafted in exactly as expected. They're odes of the f/x-driven ambient sort, and Torrini rocked her tiny frame back and forth like a girl high on love. "Summer breeze is blowing through your window, and summer breeze is blowing through your hair." I can't help loving a song about innocence, and Torrini knows that being young and carefree is half the story of being young and isolated and alone. Love in the Time of Science is unique because Torrini isn't afraid to oscillate between polarities, from love and death to abandonment and free will, in a lilting girlish voice both wise and naive.
"To Be Free," the album's single, mesmerized the audience, and its trippy commercial idealism could be the European Union's new theme song. Shy but self-possessed, Torrini was more charmer than diva onstage. Sometimes I wished she would freak out, or go into emo seizures, instead of looking so damn content. During most of the set, she did this little elbow move that resembled an old giddy woman or a bird flapping around. She spoke only a little, and when she did, it was mostly in Icelandic to her bandmates. Her few words to the audience slipped out so politely that I wanted to take her home to Dad. "This is my favorite song in the world. It's brilliant," she said about halfway into the show. Then she delved into "If You Go Away" by Jacques Brel. I'd only heard Frank Sinatra's 1969 version, but Torrini's band lent the slow pop standard a nice Portishead sound. She even ventured to berate herself, lamenting between songs, "I'm so pathetic, and I'm just laughing at myself!" She also gave a guy who yelled out "Death metal" a devil hand signal and grin.
"Telepathy" showcased Torrini's voice at its strongest and most Björk-inspired. Belting out "share your thoughts with me," Torrini let everyone know she could rock opera with the best of 'em. Bass and keyboards swelled into a climactic state of fuzz, and Torrini's drummer showed his chops. By far my favorite tune of the night, "Unemployed in Summertime" reintroduced a lighter tone and measured pace. I looked around at my friend and all the other tanktop-clad girls and boys up front and everyone just looked happy to be there, unemployed or not. The song's dreamy-in-denial chorus practically sums up half my life lately: "Unemployed in summertime, don't need money cause we're young/I just stay awake till the morning with makeup all over my face."