"Dare You" by Chloë Boehm
Review
An artist who has been steadily making an impact locally in recent months, Chloë Boehm, today has released her first track "Dare You". Consequently Chloe also her debut appearance in "Hot Music Live"
She has been appearing more & more regularly at local open mics & gaining a growing reputation with their organisers & fellow musicians as well as audiences. I first saw her myself at the LEIF open mic just before Christmas & was greatly impressed.
Equally Chloë has been posting more & more live streamed performances on social media, especially during the current cessation of live gigs: I have reposted many, if not all, on the "Hot Music Live Presents" group page on Facebook if you'd like to check them out.
What is most impressive is to get from an almost standing start as a musician performing in front of others & releasing original material has taken her only a year. She has only owned a guitar for seven months. I hope to write a feature for you on this swift & interesting journey as I think it would inspire others who might be experiencing understandable trepidation on starting out.
What has struck me (and others) has been Chloë's abilities to write striking & individual original songs in her own voice & style. This is something I have often remarked on as a really commendable feature of our contemporary scene and I imagine this confidence in being yourself and not channelling others' styles has encouraged her to do so herself, to the great benefit of songs like "Dare You".
This debut is a long song (nearly five & a half minutes), built around a haunting melody & gently pulsing guitar which offers an almost drone accompaniment to the stark & evocative vocal, wherein lies the heart of the song.
Sung in a fairly (but not slavishly so) classical folk style, the slow and steady building up of lyrical intensity & imagery over such an insistent backing creates a very powerful overall effect despite the simplicity of the structure: indeed anything more fussy or contrived in the arrangement would detract from the emotional impact.
A most interesting and compelling start to what hopefully will be a significant career. Equally hopefully we can see her play live in front of an audience again before too long.
