CHLOE CHARLES at Yonge-Dundas Square, Monday, June 2. Rating: NNN
Yonge-Dundas Square is a hard space to command. There are no walls, no roof. People are milling, meandering and loitering. So it says a lot that folk-soul singer Chloe Charles had a pretty firm grip on those who attended the free weekly Lunchtime Live! series for the hour she was onstage.
The Uxbridge-raised singer/songwriter/guitarist and a five-person band performed new tunes from a forthcoming album (recorded last week), old favourites (including the first song she ever wrote) and two excellent covers, though she could have used better acoustics on Carole King’s So Far Away. Still, her smoky vocals were solid and versatile in both her highest and lowest registers. Equally impressive was the honesty expressed in her very literal lyrics – whether she was singing about a one-night stand or her dad abandoning her to “raise glasses with Mick Jagger.”
The crowd, which had doubled to around 100 (not counting all the others dipping in and out), wasn’t going anywhere till it was over. At one point, there was even a baby playing along with a maraca. It sounded like it belonged on the record.