Winter began the day Irish singer-songwriter Christine Tobin flew into Dublin Airport from her base in London. The heavens opened, and flip-flopped ladies everywhere felt rather sheepish, hopping over puddles and prying any warmth from their wimpy summer fabrics.
How nice, then, to find myself sitting in the cosy and intimate venue of The Boom Boom Room, listening to a bit of smooth jazz sung by the kind of deep and controlled voice you only get in a setting like this. And that is the first thing that hits me, as she sings a downright groovy rendition of Dylan’s ‘Shelter From The Storm’. The double bass, Phil Robson’s electric guitar, and the many antics of their South African bongo-ing percussionist fade into the background. What follows is a set of 14 songs, some her own, some covers with a jazz/African twist, and some post-modern poetry put to song.
Her originals had a distinct sense of Intelligent Girl Finding Her Feet, with themes of having to leave town, not hiding one’s personality, and even seducing older men. She picked ‘The Horse’ by Paul Muldoon and ‘News of Blues’ by Eve Soltaine to put to music: the latter worked well; the former was interesting but perhaps a bit heavy. Her covers were varied: Cohen, Dylan, Martyn and, of course, Billie Holiday. When she did a slow ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys, the song seemed to take on the theme of a heartbroken woman, rather than a happy man in love.
I may not have found myself tapping my feet uncontrollably, but when it was over, the rain didn’t seem half as bad.