Anais Mitchell – Royal Albert Hall, London 18/02/14

Anais Mitchell had a baby six months ago. Tonight’s gig is her first time back in London since becoming a mother, and it’s a set which brings some of her work’s most deep rooted themes to the foreground.

Last year’s Child Ballads used source material which let the themes of birth, renewal, fertility and motherhood get writ big. But tonight, we hear how the tensions between infancy and maturity have always been threaded through the imagery of her poetry, whether on Hadestown or Young Man in America.

It’s startling, once Mitchell mentions her new motherhood early in the set, how frequently you hear the fixation bubble up through the lyrics. And her newest material tonight takes on an even more explicit focus. She debuts an unrecorded song which reaches across her family’s future generations, binding the unborn to the present day, and to a place within the wider world. Mitchell’s lyricism has only gotten richer over time, and this song is a brilliant example of her ability to meld incredible wordplay and poetic craft with a lightness of touch that repels pretentiousness.

Child Ballads aside, Mitchell’s last couple of records have moved away from the solo-songwriter mode, incorporating a denser array of instrumentation and guest voices. But, a late-set appearance from long-time collaborator Jefferson Hamer aside, tonight’s set is just Mitchell with her guitar. And far from suffering from the lack of ornamentation, the stripped back performance lets us hear some of this material with fresh ears, and reminds us just how astonishingly good these songs really are.

Weeping numbers like “Tailor” were always going to translate well to a solo concert. But it’s testament to Mitchell’s strength of performance and songwriting that she can render something like Hadestown highlight “Why We Build The Wall” – a dialogue performed as duet on record – without any dent to its effect whatsoever. The subtle build of its expanding repetition, with devastating socio-economic criticism within reimagined Greek tragedy, is exquisite. Through the strength of her voice alone, it’s impossible not to get caught up in its power.

Similarly, some of her densest instrumental textures – like the menacing “Wilderland” and title track from Young Man In America – lose absolutely nothing from shaking off their excess weight, and gain a lot from putting a brighter spotlight on the songs themselves. Tonight, Mitchell reveals that we’re on the cusp of seeing Hadestown as a fully-fledged piece of musical theatre (do feel free to RT this piece of information until it’s absolutely ratified). It’s staggering to consider how these songs can be delivered as lullabies, and imagined as bona fide West End pieces, with equal plausibility.

The set ends with a cover of “Goodnight Irene”, which Mitchell performs entirely acoustically, leading a full room sing along. Taking advantage of the complete command she’s earned over her audience, she leads us from total silence in the verses, to full participation in the choruses. It’s a gorgeous ending to a captivating set, showcasing songs from some of the best albums of the last five years. Now a mother with a newly born muse, the next five years could be even richer.