MO KENNEY at Hugh’s Room, Friday, September 20. Rating: NNN
The things you get from a live performance.
Take Mo Kenney’s debut album, a solid collection of catchy folk/pop/rock songs that launched the Nova Scotia singer/songwriter as one of Canada’s young artists to watch. What you don’t get from that album is quite an appreciation for how well Kenney can belt and growl out those tunes.
On Friday, as she kicked off her Canadian tour at Hugh’s Room, that vocal prowess was conveyed from the get-go, and especially on tunes like (the appropriately named) In My Lungs, where Kenney’s voice soared over her subtle electric guitar plucking, and on Five Years, which also featured a sweet guitar solo.
At rare instances when she let loose during her set, her voice cracked a touch, or veered every-so-slightly off-key. But so much better that she went for it, rather than go the safe route. Imperfection, in this case, leant interest.
Another thing you don’t get on record, are the stories behind her songs. We learned that Kenney was a just-dumped 19-year-old living with nightmare roommates when she wrote Sucker in her bedroom, a little buzzed. “I’m not bitter” she deadpanned about the song. “I won a prize.” (Sucker won the 2013 SOCAN Songwriting Prize.) This and other anecdotal/ autobiographical tidbits Kenney delivered in her low, Canadian accent with dry humour and spot-on timing.
Backed for most of the night by a drummer and bass player, Kenney took a little acoustic break in the middle, which was a nice way of slowing down her set before revving back up toward its finale. She obviously loves that electric guitar, though. “I was sick thinking about it just sitting there and not being played,” she said of a one-time two-week separation from her instrument. “I would marry my guitar if I could.” Pause. “Maybe I can, it’s Canada.”
