Anais Mitchell at Club Passim

Checked out the Anais Mitchell concert last Friday (May 30) at Club Passim. Such a great intimate setting for her. Exactly the kind of place where she should be seen. Her family was there, and they sat at a table right next to where Sue and I were sitting in comfortable Windsor chairs up against the wall. There's no backstage. Matt, who runs the joint, gets up on stage and announces Anais, and she walks through the audience up to the stage. Most artists there walk on and off stage along house right, so if you want to get an up close and personal view of the entertainer, sit along the right-hand wall.

Anais waded through the crowd holding her beat-up guitar in one hand and her other hand raised high in response to the cheers. She's friendly and happy and perky on stage, reflecting an innocence and an openness that seems to be so much a part of her youth. And funny, I notice I'm departing from the standard way of referring to the subject by her last name because she's so darn personable and open and fresh that you feel like you do know her.

There's a playfulness about her that is also reflected in the word-play of her lyrics. You can see how each song is not what it started out to be, that the words started in one place, but were moved and shuffled to find other meanings. Look at the opening stanza to Your Fonder Heart:

come out, come on, come outside
don’t you hide your handsome face from me
I want to see you half-lit in the half-light
laughing with the whites of your dark eyes
shining
darkly

The way she repeats and contrasts the word "come" with out, on, and outside in the first line, and contrast of the words within the phrase "laughing with the whites of your dark eyes shining darkly" could all be just lyrical horsing around if it weren't for the new meaning that is imparted through the phrasing and emphasis she gives them with her voice that is part child, part caricature. She punctuates each syllable and note by modulating her voice and moving her body, feeling and reaching for the meaning of the lyrics, giving the impression she's discovering the meaning of the song along with the rest of us. Like many performers, it's one thing to listen to a recording of her voice and something completely different to watch her perform. Her stage presence is inviting, and as I said, she feels and projects every note and syllable with not only her voice, but her body.

Cosmic American is a breakup song stripped of any sentimentality, something that is so refreshing and just proves what a unique talent Anais is.

i’m a live wire, i’m a shortwave radio, do you copy?
i’m a flash of light from the radar tower to the runway
if i leave you i’m gonna do it semi-automatically
do you blame me?

you are so far out there in the static
hey, baby, am i coming through?
i am up above the buildings
i can see forever out the window of a hotel room
i spent a long night with a stranger i give my body to
still i miss you

There is an intelligence borne, it seems, on curiosity and an openness to the world. One of her most powerful works that show her songwriting and performance skills is an opera she's currently working called Hadestown. Here's a song from Hadestown called The Wall:



Here's an interview that gives you a pretty good picture of the person and the performer.