BWW Reviews: ADELAIDE FRINGE 2015: SOUNDS LIKE A STORY Was An Ideal Start To An Evening

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 19th February 2015

I found myself back again at Adelaide's popular cocktail lounge/wine bar, and the centre of great cabaret all year round, La Boheme, for Sounds Like A Story, with vocalist and guitarist, John Bienvenue, and vocalist, Sophia MacRae, who also plays clarinet.

The marvellous performance featured songs written by one or other of the performers, with the second song of the evening, following an instrumental opening tune, providing the title of the show. In this case, though, saying that it sounds like a story is an accusation that somebody is not telling the truth. These songs do tell stories.

Bienvenue's Delta blues underpins most of the songs, although a few veer towards jazz, and one was a lively ragtime piece. The entire collection offered plenty of variety, encouraging foot-tapping, and some of the lyrics brought forth smiles and laughter.

MacRae is equally at home with the blues, and her clarinet playing blends superbly with the guitar. She complements Bienvenue's playing superbly, weaving intricate lines over his solid rhythmic drive.

Between the songs, the duo provided details of the various works, showing a good rapport between them with some amiable banter that generated a few more laughs. The performance was mostly light-hearted, but with a couple of more poignant numbers. It would all have made a very good CD and, perhaps, it soon will. I can see it proving popular with a lot of people.

There were mostly individual vocals but, occasionally, some nice harmonies added to the colour. Both performers have great voices and are able to use them most expressively convey the inner depths of the songs. It is such a pity that it was only a one performance event but, with luck, it might be repeated at a later date.

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