Rumer in Birmingham
It was something like a quiet sensation when British singer Rumer released her debut album “Seasons Of My Soul” back in 2010. From the very first bars of “Am I Forgiven” to the last bittersweet notes of the David Gates-written “Goodbye Girl” (from his album of the same name from 1978), we were in for a real treat. Angel-like vocals, combined with some hip and hippie-sounding instrumentation and production and an altogether wondrously subdued approach, she immediately sang to our hearts and souls. Those songs from her first album still resonate until this day and so, for the fifteenth anniversary of “Seasons Of My Soul”, Rumer decided to play all of the songs from her debut in original order. So it happened last night at Town Hall in Birmingham – with great acoustics and a pretty spare backdrop, even though she had a six-piece band with her. But it all just gelled gracefully and in a very sophisticated manner.
Most of her very slow pieces like “Come To Me High” worked especially well with some really awesome backing vocals. And the very lush, highly enjoyable “Slow” is still among my favorites. Backed with a great band which included flute and violin as well, Rumer excellently worked her way through this blissful material, with “Aretha” and “Thankful” as additional highlights. Her voice can be incredibly slushy and tender, but pretty powerful and anointing too. She is really something else, as she proved with “Saving Grace” or “Take Me As I Am”. For the second, shorter part of her show last night, Rumer opted for a potpourri of songs from her subsequent albums. There was a sublime version of “Sara Smile” (from her 2012 album “Boys Don’t Cry”), the very airy and lighthearted “Pizza And Pinball” from her 2014 album “Into Colour”, a very strong “That’s That” from her 2020 album of Hugh Prestwood songs, and even a brandnew song called “Arkansas”, an ode to her adopted new home, to be released on an upcoming album. She closed her extremely satisfying set with the immortal “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)”, a song that seemed to have been written exclusively for her.
