A Feast for All the Senses

Thursday 4th October 9pm Upstairs at the Roundy in association with the Cork Music Collective

The air is scented with incense, candles are on every surface, places of chocolate tiffin, strawberries and cream are on every table (as are sods of grass turf, pine cones and leaves), a Buddhist shrine is in one corner, rich & decorative tapestries and hangings are everywhere you look and, my personal favourite, a professional masseur is wandering around asking people if they would like a free head & shoulder massage. This was last nigh, upstairs at the Roundy, if you can believe it.

A Feast for all the Senses. Oh yes indeedy.

The music was provided by Francesca Baines, Alan O’Rourke and Annette Buckley. Francesca opened with a song about a dream she had, as she explained. ‘Tis as well she did as the lyric would have made no sense to me otherwise. Ms Baines sings interesting songs, even if this reviewer found the lyrics a bit convoluted and wordy. At one point, she broke into free verse, which was like a splash of cold water on a hot day – refreshing and welcome, even if you’re not quite sure what has just happened. She does have a lovely quality to her voice but, on a tiny negative, I would prefer to hear the songs sung by someone else in order to really hear them as I found that pitching was a little wavery, especially in the lower register. But that’s just me.

Alan O’Rourke followed shortly after spending the first part of the gig hooded and hidden, just him and his guitar and his friend on drums (never got the name – apologies). This was a sea change from the style, which went before, which was swirling, sweeping music. Mr O’Rourke was more aggressive, took risks with the vocals, played with the audience and seemed to be having a whale of a time up there. Simply put, he rocked. It was about this time that I had a massage so I have no more memories of Mr O’Rourke’s set other than mmmmmm….

Headlining the night was the wonderful Ms Buckley. Having seen her only once before when she joined Green monitor for a brief spell in a gig earlier in the summer, I had really no idea what to expect. Let me tell you, this girl is classy, and she can sing! She commanded that room from behind her piano with a voice … well, she did justice to an a capella cover of Björk’s State of Emergency … say no more. My personal favourite from the whole evening though was a little number, which, was more in the swing vein and called Honeysuckle – sweet, not too sweet, just like the tiffin.

There’s really nothing left to say. I mean; good music, chocolate and a massage from a gorgeous man: what more can a girl ask for on a Thursday night?

www.myspace.com/alanorourke www.annettebuckley.com