I thought there were some Gray fans on the board here that might enjoy this. Amongst the political detritus a little music talk as my friend to the north Dale suggested.
Gray reveals sensitive shades of songcraft
By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff, 2/1/2003
OWELL - It took nearly 10 years for David Gray's ear-twizzling combo of techno and folk to catch on with the masses. His breakthrough single, 2000's ''Babylon,'' was a smooth, sophisticated slice of pop craft - ironically it's among his least affecting tunes - that made him the toast of the chardonnay set. But it was responsible for filling the Tsongas Arena on Thursday, where Gray played a mammoth, beautifully paced set of literate, passionate songs that skittered along the edge where rock, folk, and electronica meet. The show opened with Gray alone at the piano singing ''The Other Side,'' his voice as piercing and sad as the song's mystical lyric - a farewell to his father, who died while Gray was recording his latest album ''A New Day at Midnight.'' Midway through, a red curtain parted dramatically and Gray's four-piece band dropped into the song, slathering the delicate ballad with thrumming beats, slide guitar, a weary bass line, and the crisp strum of acoustic guitar. There was surprising force in those careful, artful layers, and the rest of the night explored an engaging space that spanned cool electronics, sensitive songcraft, and epic sweep, often evoking the melancholy power of Coldplay.
Gray, ebullient and unpretentious, alternated between guitar and piano, playing most of ''A New Day at Midnight,'' a generous selection from ''White Ladder,'' and a handful of older tunes. Samples and drum loops added crackling, searing textures to Gray's plaintive melodies, and songs that in a more conventional setting would have amounted to graceful singer-songwriter fare were transformed into something enchanted.
A blowing wind, hollow beats, and fuzzy keyboards pulled listeners into the dark folds of ''Freedom.'' Scorched rhythm loops seared the lovely flesh of ''Be Mine,'' a caustic love song. ''Last Boat to America'' was a reverie made of twinkling piano, tiny thumps, and a gauzy glaze of lap steel guitar - anchored to the earth by Gray's stark ache of a voice.
Prior to encore performances of ''Sail Away'' and ''Please Forgive Me,'' Gray played a solo set - stripped-to-the-bone versions of ''This Year's Love,'' ''Shine,'' ''Hold on to Nothing,'' and ''Twilight'' - that let the songs' unadorned complexities reveal themselves. Gray's music has grown more and more captivating for its quiet irreverence, but these spare renditions trained a light on the master songwriter at the heart of it.
