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Cate Le Bon and Kevin Morby played Mercury Lounge (pics)

photos by Amanda Hatfield; words by Bill Pearis

Cate Le Bon @ Mercury Lounge 1/16/2013
Cate Le Bon

Cate Le Bon is my kind of “singer-songwriter.” Her songs can be touching and beautiful, but they can also be mossy and strange with occasional loud bursts of atonal keyboard or skronky guitar solo. As I’ve said before, “Welsh” might be the perfect descriptor for her. All sides were on display last night at Mercury Lounge (1/16), the lone (and sold-out) NYC stop on her current tour with Kevin Morby. She stuck mainly to songs from last year’s wonderful Mug Museum, save for “I Think I Knew” which is a duet with Perfume Genius. Cate gave us a few from 2012’s CYRK, the rockin’ “Falcon Eyed,” the pretty “The Man I Wanted” and single “Fold the Cloth” for the encore.

Apart from her drummer, it was a different band this time but her guitarist this time pulled triple duty, also playing keyboard and providing the falsetto harmonies that add to her music’s quirky charm. Cate’s bassist and guitarist also played in Kevin Morby’s band and his set was pretty terrific too. Solo, his music is a little more laid-back than what he does in The Babies (his bandmate Cassie Ramone was in the audience), but still fits perfectly with his soulful, world-weary vocals. If you haven’t heard his album, Harlem River, yet it’s definitely one of last year’s overlooked gems. Cate sings with Kevin on the LP’s “Slow Train” and that they didn’t perform it was last night’s only dissapointment.

Pictures from Kevin’s set and more of Cate’s, below…

Kevin Morby

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