Natalie Merchant Gives "One of the Year's Most Assured Performances, Pure Poetry in Motion," Says Dallas Morning News
Natalie Merchant's US tour brought her to Texas for three shows, including concerts in Austin and Houston over the weekend, preceded by a Thursday night set at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas. The tour features songs from Merchant's recently released Nonesuch debut album, Leave Your Sleep, for which she set poetry to music. The Dallas Morning News describes the new album as "an elegant, fascinating meditation on the mix of emotions stirred by youth."
Reviewing Thursday night's concert for the Dallas Morning News, special contributor Preston Jones says Merchant's "voice—an agile, husky, honey-bathed alto with just the right amount of bombast—sounds as pure and powerful now as it did 20 years ago."
She presented that voice and those songs to a rapt audience, Jones reports, "pin-drop silent, appreciative of the new material." He concludes: "What began as a frequently thrilling, though unlikely, hybrid between learning and entertainment soon gave way to one of the year's most assured performances. Natalie Merchant proved to be nothing less than pure poetry in motion."
Read the complete concert review at dallasnews.com.
One such appreciative audience member was D magazine's Front Row arts blog reviewer Jason Heid, who found himself "enchanted by the 'literary cavalcade' of songs" featured on Leave Your Sleep. Read more at dmagazine.com.
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Merchant and her eight-piece band make their way to Florida for two shows this week. They perform next at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater tomorrow night and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday. The Sun Sentinel's Go Guide recommends that show. "It has been too long," writes the Sentinel's Ben Crandell, who says her "voice is simply timeless."
For more information on the current tour, which concludes next week, and the fall dates for which Merchant will be backed by a full symphony orchestra, head to nonesuch.com/on-tour. You can pick up a copy of Leave Your Sleep in the Nonesuch Store, with high-quality MP3s of the complete album included at checkout.
In Houston she was also SO delightful to watch and hear. She's a TRUE artist, as I was reminded by her passion for poetry and music sounds that may not be mainstream but sure warm the heart of a fan....as it did mine! She got emotional onstage here in Houston during "River", it was unclear to me if because of some words she exchanged with an audience member quietly at the bottom of the stage, or why? The concert was so intimate, casual yet magical, left us with a yearning to hear that voice just one more time!
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