Lindi Ortega, Ruby Lounge Manchester, 30th January 2016 8/10

In the title song of her sixth album, Lindi Ortega sings: "There ain’t no stars in Faded Gloryville / We’ve chased our dreams into the ground / If disillusion has some hope to kill / Here nobody wears a crown.” The song was inspired by 2009 film Crazy Heart, but a comment last night suggested it's also auto biographical. The music business is tough, as Lindi explained in an interview: “People don’t understand how hard musicians struggle…But then I met a girl in Colorado who told me she was an addict, my songs inspired her to get out of the downward spiral…" The quiet, sensitive acoustic support act, Jordan Klassen illustrated this challenge last night. He came all the way from Vancouver, yet much of the Saturday night Manchester audience seemed oblivious of his movingly therapeutic songs, written in part as a response to his mother's cancer diagnosis, as they talked throughout the set.

Lindi's built a loyal fan base through sheer heard work, reaching headline status through relentless touring, having already refined her craft on the Toronto circuit for a decade. Her act is polished, and the stagecraft slick as she moves around stage, actively engaging the audience. She's talked about naturally being an introvert, yet she remains in character, with a confident demeanour and engaging personality. Lindi benefits from a husky, tremulous voice which has been compared to Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn's, but James Robertson's amazing guitar playing also contributed much to the success of the gig. I've experienced this act twice before in Manchester at small venues, in 2013 at The Soup Kitchen and 2014 at The Deaf Institute, but it feels as though they've developed to the point that they could easily command the attention of far larger crowds.

Faded Gloryville is distinguished by the collaboration with John Paul White of The Civil Wars and Ben Tanner, keyboard player in Alabama Shakes, as well as producer Dave Cobb, whom Lindi worked with on Tin Star. They've brought the welcome influence of classic Muscle Shoals rock, particularly to the first part of the album. Yet Lindi's always drawn influences from deep in the past, and she's far from a conventional country artist, valuing artistic freedom over commercial success. Happily, the set was heavy on songs from my favourite album, 2012's Cigarettes and Truckstops, though I missed the closing song from her latest record, the beautiful Half Moon, which is about life's struggles. This is a reminder that Faded Gloryville's melancholic side is about more than the trials of the music industry: it's about unfulfilled dreams in general, and coping with sadness.

Yet, if Lindi's lyrics are sometimes dark, the effect of the relentless energy and enthusiasm is uplifting. This is above all an act that must be seen live, as the performance transcends the conventions of the song writing. As Pitchfork said recently, she has the ability to peal back country convention to find weird new emotions. Musically, too, she brings blues, Americana and even jazz into a conservative genre. Perhaps a certain independence of spirit is necessary for survival in this world. Lindi wrote an opinion piece last summer about how country music radio in America has become the 'bro country domain', and more recently called out a sexist reviewer of this tour, who'd attributed her catching the cold virus to fashion choices. Lindi's a resilient performer at the highest level, who can teach us all about persistence, hard work, and bouncing back from Faded Gloryville.

Set List

• Heaven Has No Vacancy (Cigarettes & Truckstops)
• *I Ain't The Girl
• Demons Don't Get Me Down (Cigarettes &Truckstops)
• *Faded Gloryville
• *When You Ain't Home
• Angels (Little Red Boots)
• Hard As This (Tin Star)
• *Run Amuck
• *Tell It Like It Is
• Cigarettes and Truckstops
• *Ashes
• *To Love Somebody
• The Day You Die (Cigarettes & Truckstops)

Encores

• Bring It On Home (Sam Cooke cover)
• Tin Star
• Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash cover)

*From Faded Gloryville

Daughter, Albert Hall Manchester, 21st January 2016 8/10

Daughter shys away from commercial, materialistic goals, yet this tour was entirely sold out. Their popularity owes something to the song Youth capturing the public imagination in 2012, though endearingly Elena Tonra explained in an interview that since she doesn't own a TV, she found out about its use on the Tour de France coverage from her parents. This song spontaneously became a sing along in Manchetser last night, a rare example of overt audience involvement. Amsterdam was another exquisitely performed highlight from If You Leave, but the newer songs engaged me more, and in Human, Elena's vocals felt too tentative. Not To Disappear has divided critics, some reviews being guarded in their praise, yet to my mind, it has greater depth and more complex structures.

The wintery evening began with Pixx, led by the youthful Brit School alumnus Hannah Rodgers. Their eerie electronic production created a pensive, moody feel and silenced the audience. Apart from being label mates on 4AD, the link to Daughter reaches beyond melancholy to the use of contemporary influences on folk. Daughter has progressed Electronic sounds in Not To Disappear. This can be heard in the particularly effective song is Alone / With You, about a previous one sided relationship, where the use of syths creates atmosphere. Elena described this song as: 'a study of loneliness from the inside out'. There is greater continuity with their earlier work in the accessible lead single Numbers, with effective use of percussion and a repetition of the mantra: "I feel numb in this kingdom". The lyrics were clearly audible throughout but the pain and fragility in Elena's eyes spoke just as powerfully. The lighting design and giant album art backdrop were appropriately muted.

Since I last saw Daughter in Manchester in 2013 their performance has become more confident, but it's still tentative, and testament to the attentive audience that it remained so moving in a larger space. The music combines influences of shoegaze, dream pop, and post rock; gentle vocals often being disrupted by a dramatic guitar riff, cymbal crash or disarmingly painful lyrics. Elena has explained that the band started because she knew she wanted to perform, but needed people around her to give her support. Remi Aguilella's strong drumming style has been compared to The National's Bryan Devendorf's, and Igor Haefeli's guitar work was sensitive, but Elena sets the mood. As she explained: 'I do feel there’s a strength in being an emotion being'.

My favourites from the newer material included Mother, where Elena shows real empathy about the emotional and physical burdens of motherhood, and the poignant Doing The Right Thing, written in response to her grandmother's Alzheimer's. No Care provided a change of tempo in a surprisingly theatrical set, given the lack of movement around the stage or dancing. Elena spoke briefly with shyness to thank the audience and express her hope that the Victorian venue is haunted, as she'd heard rumoured. At the core of this act is honesty: Elena shares her experiences of loss, pain and loneliness, like Sharon Van Etten in the hope that others will find her insights into the human condition as therapeutic to listen to as she does expressing them. Her themes feel all too relevant to my life at present, and immersion in such devastation can be cathartic. I was delighted to find out just before this gig that I'll have a chance to experience their healing again at Primavera Sound in June, and if you're also helped by such empathy, I recommend you seek them out.

Setlist
How*
Tomorrow (If You Leave)
Numbers*
Alone / With You*
Amsterdam (IYL)
Human (IYL)
Doing the Right Thing*
Shallows (IFY)
Home (Wild Youth EP)
No Care*
Winter (IYL)
Smother (IYL)
New Ways*
Youth (IYL)
Fossa*

Encore:
Made Of Stone*
(*Not To Disappear)