Cate Le Bon, Glasgow review: ‘a low-key kind of musical genius’

Cate Le Bon will likely always be a cult artist. The Welsh wonder (not an accolade to throw about lightly) is a low-key kind of musical genius, understated in demeanour but overflowing with ideas, weaving intriguing instrumental elements into her odd, intoxicating songs, soothing in her delivery of the most unexpected melodic turns and always ready for her close-up in some impressive stage creation.

Cate (in peachy latex) and her band arrived on stage to the whimsical strains of Ivor Cutler’s never irrelevant Women of the World – from one idiosyncratic stylist to another. The set drew heavily from her new album Michelangelo Dying, the seventh in a career which has taken Le Bon from South Wales to the Californian desert and back, carving a sound of no fixed abode.

Her latest is a break-up record unlike any other which is bigger on mood than melody, a channel for her grief and loss of self. Not that you would know from her charismatic poise as the drowsy psychedelia of Jerome takes hold, with the emphasis on aqueous guitar and her mellow, enchanting vocals. Love Unrehearsed, meanwhile, was the first of a number of tracks to be dappled sparingly with saxophone, followed by the heady reverie of Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday), with a touch of Dusty Springfield in her cool beseeching.

It’s all there for the exploiting, from choppy post-punk reggae grooves to rhythmic switchbacks. At times, Le Bon’s music sounded like Roxy Music at their weirdest, a strange little party with buzzing synths and clipped saxophone. Multi-instrumentalist Stephen Black, aka Sweet Baboo, added percussive resonance to Home To You, a reminder that melody is always baked in to even her most offbeat offerings, while Remembering Me was an audacious exercise in Carlos Alomar-influenced guitar licks and Kate Bush-style call-and-response.

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