Kicking off her latest UK stint in Cardiff, five years since last playing here, Stella Donnelly brings all the eager energy, even if a few of the nerves, expected of the first tour show. Amplified by her two supports – Jack Gaby (who later joined Stella as backing vocals and bass) and Pys Melyn (a 2020s response to Gorky’s) – the evening was exciting and culturally mixed: Stella was born in Swansea to a Welsh mother before moving to Perth in her youth.
Vocally, she lands somewhere between Georgia Ellery, Courtney Barnett and Lily Allen. Her dexterity is impressive, even when her lyrics are silly, touching on everything from periods (Being Nice) and vibrators (Mosquito) to love affairs with divorcees and pub work, somehow always in a sweet and sentimental way.
The ability to strike a perfect balance between optimistic indie pop and tear-jerking ballads without creating emotional whiplash is difficult, but it’s something Donnelly accomplishes with ease. She swings effortlessly between her ditties, or as she calls them her ‘song-fachs’ (Baths; Friend), her dance-along hits (Tricks; Die), and her ballads (Feel It Change), before returning to ‘another grumpy song’ and repeating the cycle.
The energy throughout the night is infectious. It’s hard not to smile when, directly following a lengthy complaint about the consequence of a smaller touring band being the sacrifice of dancing, Donnelly spontaneously abandons her keyboard solo in favour of leading a dance routine. A skilled performer, something of both a musician and comedian on stage, she fills gaps in the set with charismatic joking as she retunes her guitar, and speaks over riffs in Mosquito to ask the audience to imagine how her mamgu reacted to the song.
Despite needing to restart some newer songs – some of her set, she warns us, fits like old, stained panties and some of it like a new G-string you’re still learning to move around in – classics like How Was Your Day? and Beware Of The Dogs are performed flawlessly. Perhaps the only true faults of the set can be said to be the smoke which, at one point, obscured the stage entirely, and the unusual decision to encore a gig in Wales with Danny Boy. But even these flaws are fitting for an artist who deals with humanness in all its raw and messy forms, working only in aid of the fun and friendly atmosphere any fan would expect.
Stella Donnelly, Jack Gaby + Pys Melyn, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Thurs 19 Mar
words MENNA WILSON photos FFION MEGAN OWEN
