It was the perfect balance of venue and artist; Cheri Dahl, a singer/songwriter/guitarist delivered a brief but powerful set at “The Vacant Storefront” on Crosby Street. After this particular evening, I am of the hope that there will be more performances held in this wonderful space.
Picture this: a storefront that feels more like a comfortable living room with exposed brick and a stone alcove where the soundboard and performer are. Thus, this is where Cheri Dahl set up and plugged it – an acoustic guitar through an amp with some distortion – not the kind of acoustic-based show I’m used to, but found myself enjoying.
I am hesitant to draw comparisons, but as she began to sing – an immediately gut-wrenching opening song called “Hurts Being Human” – I kept hearing a combination of Deborah Harry and Ronnie Spector, by virtue of the power in her voice. And that was the key – the power in her voice. It was a close-your-eyes moment as she sang and you could feel.
Which says everything. Each one of the songs in the set – “Rock N’ Roll Baby Jane”, “Blue And Sentimental” (which had cool jazz touches on both guitar and in her singing), “Beautiful Loser”, “What Is Love” to a variation on The Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby” (which I later found out had a portion of a Ronnie Spector track, thus confirming my initial instinct) all showed the dynamic range of her voice – at times, quiet and subdued and at others, soaring and rich. And the physical atmosphere was a great asset to her voice enveloping the room.
The closing number, a rendition of The Kinks’ “Little Bit Of Emotion” was an appropriate ending for this abbreviated set – in all, satisfying and it makes me look forward to seeing her perform again.
I liken this to hearing someone’s demos before they’ve been polished; this was raw and pure.
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