July 6, 2019
Off the 405
Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Hailing from rural West Wales, singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon creates uncanny, playful folk songs tinged with a dark fragility, all delivered in her beautifully haunting voice. After opening for fellow Welsh rockers Super Furry Animals in 2007, Le Bon released four full-length albums across the next decade with her distinctly inventive guitarwork and surrealistically-inclined l lyricism. A move to Los Angeles in 2013 saw collaborative relationships grow with Kevin Morby, Perfume Genius, and psychedelic rocker Tim Presley. Across her output, Le Bon manages to create an enchanting sophistication and a singular sense of structure that is rarely seen in contemporary pop music. Her artistry extends to the entire experience of her work—from the album artwork, high-concept videos often made in collaboration with Turner Prize nominated visual artist Phil Collins, to the live performance itself, all while retaining an understated and effortless authenticity. Having taken a hiatus after 2016's acclaimed Crab Day, Le Bon returns with the just-announced new album Reward, written during a year-long stint living solitarily and learning to handcraft furniture. The result is a collection of new music every bit as stylistically varied, artfully constructed and tactile as those in her back catalogue, but also intensely introspective and profound—her most personal to date.
