Anna Calvi – Islington Assembly Hall, London 08/10/13

Aura is an important but somewhat uncommon trait in singer-songwriters; that certain presence which some artists just have. It’s not really something you can learn or develop but it can be the difference between good and great. Anna Calvi has an aura.

Her sophomore record One Breath, to which tonight’s show is in honour, paints a picture of a tempestuous, impassioned woman, yearning and longing often to the point of anger. However, moments into the set it becomes very clear that there is a clinical and quite amazing difference between Calvi the person and Calvi the performer. That’s not to say the music doesn’t come from the heart, that much is painfully true – you just have to listen to the crying tones of the albums title track to know it – but there is just a sense that she adopts a character as soon as that first purposeful chord is struck.

Between songs she cuts a quiet endearingly shy figure – standing still, upright and immaculately turned-out. Within the throws of her songs though, she is anything but shy. Songs like ’Suddenly’, which bludgeons its way across the packed Assembly Hall early in the piece, neatly highlight this juxtaposition; calm but crunchy muted chords foreshadow the explosion of cymbals to come and you are never allowed to ignore the underlying darkness. All of this is lead by a faultless and deeply characteristic live vocal.

There is something of Jeff Buckley about her, particularly in these sizeable vocal builds that feel trapped and can only be released after a thoughtful, drawn-out process. In her guitar playing too, everything is deliberate and brilliantly controlled, so that on the carefully chosen occasion that a cacophonous jam escapes, as in the real highlight ‘Love Won’t Be Leaving’, the frantic, piercing riff work feels dangerous and organic.

With a huge desert-like projection behind them accompanied by relentless flashing lights, the performance feels cinematic and with the almost operatic nature of her voice, you could pick a brooding Bond theme out of the generous set Having said that, ‘Eliza’ and its infectious eponymous refrain, touches on pop-rock and utilises this coiled-spring voice again.

The atmosphere is palpable and you get the feeling that people are genuinely enamoured by Calvi’s presence; rapturous applause, mid-song clapping and “We love you Anna”‘s punctuate a captivating performance capped off by an emotionally charged cover of Edith Piaf’s haunting ‘Jezebel’.

Alongside her very obvious writing and instrumental ability, Calvi’s aura adds the finishing touches; she is an artist with all the potential to sit alongside the greatest music-lovers musicians.

Photograph by Burak Cingi – see the full gallery here. One Breath is out now via Domino Records.