Neneh Cherry: Live at the Twisted Pepper

Fun fact to make you all feel incredibly old: Neneh Cherry and Youssou N’Dour’s No. 1 smash hit ‘7 Seconds’ was released 20 years ago. 20! And yet when Cherry emerges onto the Twisted Pepper’s stage amid a cloud of dry ice, she seems not to have aged a day. Exuding an effortless air of cool, the Swedish singer is showcasing new album Blank Canvas, her first release in 18 years.

And it’s definitely been worth the wait. An understated collection of off-kilter, trip-hop tracks, the album was produced by Kieran Hebden of Four Tet and features London brother act RocketNumberNine, who perform with Cherry tonight.

Opening with ‘Across The Water’, whose intro consists of Cherry’s raw vocal over Tom Page’s eerie percussion, a truly intimate scene is set. Though perhaps a little shy at the beginning, Cherry soon gets comfortable, showcasing some funky dance moves to more dancey tracks like ‘Out Of The Black’ (featuring fellow Swede, Robyn) and ‘Dossier’.

“I’ll be 50 next week”, Cherry giggles - to which the crowd erupts into wild cheers and whoops. “And I’m a fucking grandmother!”, she adds, before continuing with a set that would put artists half her age to shame. Often eerily unsettling, moving from sparse production to wild, tribal percussion, tonight’s show is utterly engaging from start to finish, and perfectly suited to the dark ‘n’ grimy surroundings of the Twisted Pepper. Enthralling.