Cate Le Bon
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
[Jan. 17] We were first introduced to Cate Le Bon as something of a protégé of her Welsh compatriot Gruff Rhys, of Super Furry Animals.
Piper Ferguson
We were first introduced to Cate Le Bon as something of a protégé of her Welsh compatriot Gruff Rhys, of Super Furry Animals — she released her 2009 debut LP on his Irony Bored label, and sang with his synth-pop side project Neon Neon. But while the two artists share a predilection for melodic psychedelia and the occasional ramble into slightly baroque ramshackle folk (plus a fondness for singing in their country’s mother tongue), Le Bon’s sensibilities have proven considerably darker and more dour than her affably goofy countryman. Mug Museum (Wichita/Turnstile), her first album since relocating to Los Angeles, is her lightest, loosest foray yet — it features several pop tunes that could legitimately be called “sprightly” — but still finds room for plenty of somnolent, gracefully dirgelike ballads and a couple of leery, lurching rockers. The uptick in eclecticism only shores up her musical resemblance to the Velvet Underground, which, far from whiffing of pastiche, feels unfussy, warmly familiar and entirely welcome.
Fri., Jan. 17, 9 p.m., $10-$12, with Kevin Morby, Boot & Saddle, 1131 S. Broad St., 267-639-4528, bootandsaddlephilly.com.
