"Big In Japan" is a well-worn joke about an artist being more popular outside their hometown/country. Michelle Guverich (formerly Chinawoman) plays to 600-800 people in her adopted Berlin and elsewhere in Europe. But when I first saw her a few years back at The Gladstone Hotel, she was the opener for barely a dozen people. Tellingly, she has never done another North American show even though she has released several albums since then. But Guverich has decided to move back to Toronto, at least for the time being, and the show on Sunday was a welcome home and showcase of her latest album.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a packed and sold out Lula Lounge. There were no doubt friends and family in the crowd. But from the cosmopolitan make-up of the audience, French, Spanish, Turkish, Russian, and other languages could be heard, I suspect many were fans from abroad. Perhaps they have also found themselves here in Toronto, temporarily or otherwise, and were thrilled to see her play in a more intimate venue than a similar concert elsewhere.
Backed by a small band, Guverich's repertoire consisted of verbose and sardonic songs painting vivid and specific scenarios. You didn't really need any back-stories to understand, but Guverich was happy to fill in some details with anecdotes. It was unsurprising that she was witty and charming, often using slyly mischievous understatements. Given the direction of the Toronto music scene, it's still doubtful Guverich will ever achieve the same level of success here. But however long she stays, I welcome her return, especially if it means there'll be more local shows in the future.
Update (Dec 2020): Guverich moved to Denmark with her partner some time in 2019, released another album, but did not play another Toronto show.
No comments:
Post a Comment