Perhaps best known for O Superman, an unlikely UK number one single in 1981, Laurie Anderson has never been an artist to occupy just one niche. Singer, violinist, writer, performance artist, illustrator and more, she is always on the cusp of something new and bold in her “quest for wonder”.
Her collaborations have included the Kronos Quartet, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno and – perhaps most intensively – her late husband Lou Reed. Always giving something new a go, like the Puppet Motel CD-ROM created with artist Hsin-Chien Huang in 1995, even the loss of her extensive archive in a flood has not dissuaded her – indeed, it emboldened her to continue creating.
This new show, titled Friends And Teachers, is somewhere between memoir, concert, one-woman band, video piece and creative writing session. All these things meld well, for the most part. The electric viol, her signature instrument of sorts, produces some sublime harmonies and timbres, from glistening chords to huge, booming depths.
The film work sees spinning moons, raindrops on windows and Anderson’s expressive chalk drawings; in one relocation, her grandfather is revealed as not what he professed to be. Anderson claimed she painted awful depictions of his childhood, and I would much rather have seen these than the AI depictions we got instead: you wonder if her quest for the new might reach a dead end with this technology, one way or another. Her stories, meanwhile, could be dark, wry or bizarre, but always absorbing.
Friends And Teachers is also a platform for tributes to people who meant a lot to Anderson, including John Cage, Bob Dylan and William Burroughs. The more dubious biographical details of the latter, who features in her 1986 concert film Home Of The Brave, is briefly noted before she moves on to other, lesser-known writers. As for Anderson’s bête noire Donald Trump, her worries may be all too familiar – yet her delivery of them is candid and thoughtful enough to feel refreshing.
One question lingers: what was new here? Heartbreaking stories from Anderson’s childhood and revelatory electronic string work are regular highlights of her live performances; voice modulations and eccentric synths have been a keepsake for decades now. The momentum of this one-woman show lagged on occasion, yet the generosity of delivery ensured things were never dull.
The finale saw us on our feet as Anderson led a miniature tai chi session, her sharing of the practice a posthumous echo of Lou Reed’s devotion to this martial art. We are always learning with Laurie Anderson, in one way or another.
Laurie Anderson: Friends And Teachers, Llais @ Cardiff Music City Festival, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay, Thurs 8 Oct
words JAMES ELLIS photos POLLY THOMAS
