The Review - MUSIC - grooves with ROISIN GADELRAB Published: 4 September 2008
Kimya Dawson is set to play at the Union Chapel
Dawson’s down with the (very young) kids
Kimya Dawson’s charming tunes are attracting a pre-teen fanbase, writes Alan Stafford
WHEN teenage pregnancy comedy Juno was a surprise hit in cinemas earlier this year, it also gave an unexpected boost to singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson.
Her bittersweet songs were scattered through the film after actress Ellen Page suggested that The Moldy Peaches, Dawson’s former band, would be perfect for the soundtrack.
Sweet but sharp tracks like So Nice So Smart and Anyone Else But You struck a chord with audiences and the soundtrack album, with six Dawson songs, topped the US charts. Suddenly the cultish, kooky singer and anti-folk icon was an unlikely star.
Now the 35-year-old, who accurately describes her music as “happy and sad and scared and brave all mixed up together,” is playing at the Union Chapel, coinciding with the launch of her new album, Alphabutt.
The new record is a collection of somewhat scatalogical children’s songs sung in her trademark simple style.
Dawson is a proud mother herself to two-year-old Panda Delilah, and says of the album: “I think kids will connect with it, musically, ’cause it’s actually kids playing. It’s really free and kind of wild.”
Quite what Upper Street’s babyccino crowd will make of songs such as the title track, a reworking of an alphabet-learning song (sample lyric: “P is for panda, peeing and pooping”) one can only speculate.
Her cute style definitely puts off some and it’s unlikely that the idea of a Kimya Dawson children’s album will win over the sceptics.
She certainly has admirers, though, and Dawson has reportedly earned an invitation to perform on Sesame Street.
Also the simple songs often have heartbreak and passion bubbling underneath – as perhaps befits someone who lists both Cyndi Lauper and Metallica among her influences.
This is a rare chance to see Dawson, – her only other UK appearance at the sold-out End of the Road festival in North Dorset.
• Kimya Dawson appears at the Union Chapel on September 11.
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