Girded by the incidents and accidents of the last week and years, Nadia performed a range of her works from the first to the newly released fourth album with professionally relaxed maturity.
Being ready to "cry on cue" suggests she should be well past feeling concern at what others say about her works.
Her material continues with enigmatic insights which remain entertainingly elusive.
Her presentation of internal dialogue is highly crafted. Her lyric line combines a sweet long line with succinct conclusions.
The music is framed by the articulation of the words. This ability is neatly captured in the song Moment By, Moment By a catchphrase that might normally be presented as "moment by moment", and the insightful dysfunction between the lines "... love is action/I don’t hear it anymore".
The silent and focused audience refrained from getting up to dance, instead remaining entranced by the intricacy of the lyrics and Reid’s vocal resonance and agility.
The development of her art has been greatly augmented by her band’s musicality and technical prowess.
Her unblinking emotional intellect and honesty are matched as the band veers away from regular strum and beat into something approaching art music. Her rendition of John Martyn’s I Don’t Want to Know About Evil hits home, as does Take What’s Mine.
Band members are Sam Taylor (guitars), Joe McCallum (percussion), Richie Picard (bass fiddle and bass guitar) and Tom Healy (guitars and harmonica). The Broken Heartbreakers opened the evening by acknowledging they were fully in tune with Dunedin audiences. The four have much to commend their contemplative sound, political cynicism and strong vocals particularly in Whiter than White and Migration.
