Well, in a sense I've been anticipating this gig since the last time sweet Noriko toured (February of last year @ Ding Dong, her first time in Australia), but despite the subliminal build-up of expectation it was anything but a disappointment; in fact, a couple of hours on, I'm still floating a little bit on how good it was.
This was a concert which I was always half-inclined to attend on my own, and in the end, that's what happened (mentioned it to a few people, but they were unable to make it because of, variously, ballet, impecuniosity, and a mother's birthday); as it turned out, though, a guy from my Heidegger subject - one Adam - was there, having heard one of her songs on the radio earlier this week and decided to roll up on spec, so I had company between the sets (Lachlan was also around with some friends)...as to which, I only caught the tail end of one of the support acts, and enjoyed the seemingly at least semi-improv, somewhat Mogwai-esque post-rock/noise-type act which followed.
But obviously this was all just so much fluff to be waited on until the main event. As expected, it was just Tujiko standing up the front with her laptop and singing (simple black knit and plain dark grey skirt - a contrast to the bright pink movie star dress she was in last time); quite a short set in the end - 45 minutes, maybe? - and mostly comprised of new songs. The cute factor was high, of course, from the regular smiles, to the charmingly fumbling English as she hunted around on her laptop for the file to accompany an encore, to the basic sweetness of her singing over the top of these glitch-heavy electroscapes. But it couldn't be mainly about anything but the music, as to which: the new tracks sounded good (especially one with some more organic instrumentation and a big hip hop beat in the midsection), but the clear highlight was "White Film" - it was a joyful moment when its opening strains floated out of the sound-weave and the whole song was a delight (especially the point when the layers all dropped away to leave the simple chiming tones which ring in the album version and Tujiko gave the crowd a gorgeous smile to accompany it).
I always think of her albums as very much headphone experiences, preferably to be enjoyed at home with space and silence all around. But listening to the music loud, distorting a bit through the speakers, mixing with the background noise, and generally seeming more cacophonous, and with that too-charming singing coming directly towards through, is, while different, an equally great experience. Saw it from a good spot - right in the middle, 7 or 8 metres away if that - and thought that it was all just too wonderful for words.
