Oregon Music News

Sia. Photos by Anthony Pidgeon. Click for more photos.

Last Tuesday night at the Wonder Ballroom, three female singer /songwriters–all foreigners–played to a packed house of devoted fans. Here’s why:

Headlining the night was Sia, who currently resides in the UK but is originally from Australia. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Sia is the Queen of Funk, the Queen of Indie Pop, and the absolute Queen of Strange. That soul stopping voice of hers comes out of a silly-joke-telling, goofy-face-making-persona who is clearly at home on the mic. She stood before us in her billowing, multilayered dress that was covered in hand crocheted vaginas, as were her shoes. Sia and her band are an all around act of perfection. I would see them every night if I could, and never get tired of it.

As for her openers…

Oh Land

Well Portland, if you haven’t heard Oh Land then you better run to your nearest listening station and turn it up. Oh Land (aka Nanna √òland Fabricius) is a Danish wild woman of beauty. Her and her band are the next big thing to hit the craving indie ears of us North Americans who love electronic sounds done right. Oh Land is not a soft presence on stage. She is not merely a gorgeous, distinct voice flanked by two men running the operation (think Skye Edwards when she sang with Morcheeba or Sia with Zero 7). Rather, Oh Land is all flailing arms, pounding drum sticks, and mind-blowing charisma. Even covered in swaths of black fringe, and sweating viciously, she seemed unaware of being anything but powerful and in charge, albeit delightfully.

Oh Land just might pick up where Bjork left off.

Before Oh Land took the stage, there was the very sweet and very down-to-earth Ximena Sariñana. Dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, she attracted a well-dressed crowd of Latinos and Norte Americanos alike, all wanting to hear those throaty, booming ballads that somehow still drip with honey. Ximena embodied youthfulness and the disparity of being an outsider, yet with a voice so free of pretension and the typical self-centered angst that every note came off richly provocative.

See for yourself on “Shine Down”: