Back-alley blues and the bright city lights

Former Screaming Trees architect turned Queens of the Stone Age affiliate, prolific cross-genre collaborator and solo artist – as a singer, guitarist, bassist and songwriter, Mark Lanegan is a treasure of modern American music whose influence spans a stunningly diverse range of soundworlds. Equally at home alongside the twee tones of Belle and Sebastian singer/cellist Isobel Campbell, the big-beat of UK dance legends Bomb The Bass, or the dingy psychedelic grunge rock of Screaming Trees, Lanegan’s witching hour blues introspection is singular, yet seemingly relevant almost anywhere.

This Friday, at Bar Bodega, Lanegan makes his highly anticipated New Zealand debut, performing solo. Showcasing songs drawn from his entire, hyper-extended musical back catalog, live, Lanegan’s undeniably distinctive deeply toned vocals blend with delicate guitar work, stripping the arrangements down to a haunting skeletal register which is affective and deeply personal. To put things in proper context though, his music is personal to the degree where it invokes a striking degree of emotion, sympathy and understanding from the listener.

Over the course of a longstanding career characterized by eternal integrity, and the kind of exaggerated lyrical and musical detailing which leaves its mark in the listener long after ones ears first encounter his works, Lanegan has aside from just listeners, captivated countless musicians. As testament to this, aside from the aforementioned internationally respected individuals and groups, Lanegan has shared studio (and stage) time with the likes of P J Harvey, Dean Ween (of Ween), Izzy Stradlin (formerly of Guns’n’Roses), Martina Topley Bird and many distinguished others.

This Friday, if you feel like sinking into a world of Sin City style references to petty violence, drug deals gone wrong and squalid love affairs that were never meant to be; drop past Bodega and experience the Charles Bukowski of lyricism, performing live and uncut.