You’d be hard pushed to recognise Sinéad O’Connor these days. Her publicity photos still show the willowy ingenue of her early Nineties heyday, all Bambi eyes, shaven head and cut-glass cheekbones. The deathless video of the transatlantic hit Nothing Compares 2 U, filmed entirely in close-up, drew its power from the strange beauty of O’Connor’s face. It was a look that defined her as much as her outspoken views on the Roman Catholic Church, women’s rights, child abuse and world politics.
So it’s something of a shock, then, when she takes to the stage at the Pavilion Theatre, a 350-capacity tent in Albert Square, to premiere songs from her forthcoming album, Home. Dressed in a blue trouser suit that does little to flatter her, she’s thicker round the waist, the cheekbones are gone and her hair has grown into an unfussy shoulder-length bob. She looks, in fact, exactly what she is – a 44-year-old mother of four who’s been through a fair bit.
But then she opens her mouth and it’s as if time has melted. Her voice still has that same sense of despairing purity, a vulnerability that gives her already intense songs a rare depth. The new songs speak of love, domesticity and motherhood. “I used to have no walls around me,” she sings at one point. “I was too free if that’s possible to be.”
The heartening thing about tonight’s sell-out is that the Home tunes shine brighter than much of her back catalogue. Who is the Real VIP pulls the red carpet from underneath X Factor culture, O’Connor intoning wonderfully over a keyboard drone before fading into a whispered prayer. 4th & Vine is a full-fat pop song with a skanky rhythm that works equally well, as does the junkie requiem Reason with Me. The only problem is that we could have done with more of this and less from so-so albums like Faith and Courage or Theology.
Elsewhere, there’s a charged rendition of the folk song I Am Stretched on Your Grave and songs dedicated to each of her children. Nothing Compares 2 U goes out to her seven-year-old son, Shane, who, as O’Connor happily explains, calls his mum “a pot-bellied warthog”.
There have been numerous issues over the years – a suicide attempt, failed marriages, conversion to priesthood and some very public Pope-ripping – but the Sinéad O’Connor of 2011 seems comfortable in her encroaching middle age. Her look, and these new songs, suit her just fine.
So it’s something of a shock, then, when she takes to the stage at the Pavilion Theatre, a 350-capacity tent in Albert Square, to premiere songs from her forthcoming album, Home. Dressed in a blue trouser suit that does little to flatter her, she’s thicker round the waist, the cheekbones are gone and her hair has grown into an unfussy shoulder-length bob. She looks, in fact, exactly what she is – a 44-year-old mother of four who’s been through a fair bit.
The heartening thing about tonight’s sell-out is that the Home tunes shine brighter than much of her back catalogue. Who is the Real VIP pulls the red carpet from underneath X Factor culture, O’Connor intoning wonderfully over a keyboard drone before fading into a whispered prayer. 4th & Vine is a full-fat pop song with a skanky rhythm that works equally well, as does the junkie requiem Reason with Me. The only problem is that we could have done with more of this and less from so-so albums like Faith and Courage or Theology.
Elsewhere, there’s a charged rendition of the folk song I Am Stretched on Your Grave and songs dedicated to each of her children. Nothing Compares 2 U goes out to her seven-year-old son, Shane, who, as O’Connor happily explains, calls his mum “a pot-bellied warthog”.
There have been numerous issues over the years – a suicide attempt, failed marriages, conversion to priesthood and some very public Pope-ripping – but the Sinéad O’Connor of 2011 seems comfortable in her encroaching middle age. Her look, and these new songs, suit her just fine.
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