SON LITTLE With CAITI BAKER

THE STUDIO (DARWIN ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE) 07 DEC 2016 | By Steve ‘Habibi’ Kelk

Posted on December 18, 2016 by Geoffrey Hulme

Son Little (from Philadelphia, USA) graced the Studio stage at the DEC last week with a solo performance that had the audience mesmerized from the moment he walked on.

A good artist will own the stage – Son Little (Aaron Livingston) kinda becomes the stage – he appeared and blended almost holographically on the darkened riser and just started playing a MIDI pad controller – no words, no flashy lighting, just him on stage. Not a sound from the audience – until he was finished.

Stage banter from this artist was minimal – he let his music (and curiously, a tennis ball) do the talking. Taking to the guitar, you didn’t hear four-chord pop songs from this fellow – based in RnB but genre-hopping all over the place, Son Little has a way of singing while not singing, talking while saying nothing but saying plenty. This gig was a stripped down, minimalist experience that was perfectly pitched at an intimate audience that was not entirely sure what they were going to get but went away satisfied. Son Little seems to have a lyrical and musical tether to another dimension and he takes you along for the ride. If you get the chance to see him, take it.

Darwin favourite Caiti Baker opened the night for Son Little also with a stripped-down set featuring ‘The Doctor’ Lindsay McDougall on guitar and Michael Hohnen coming in on double bass a little later in the proceedings. Caiti’s sassy R&B attack was the perfect warm-up for the evening, her music and style and moves on the cut-back stage allowing the audience to hone-in on her massive presence. And those high notes – WOW. This performer’s range is extending with constant touring and she just gets better and better each time.

Overall it was a perfect pairing of two very talented artists on the one ticket, with the consummate producer James Mangohig providing the beats between sets. We thank Perambulator Records for having the foresight to put these two artists together and for having Foldback Magazine document the event.