The first thing that stood out to me when Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Georgia Knight effortlessly walked onto that stage was the autoharp she had clutched in her arms. I’ll admit I had to enlist Google to figure out what an autoharp actually was. She was holding it tightly in an embrace, as if it were her lucky charm, her signature.
At first glance around the crowd that Friday night at San Fran, it felt intimate and cultivated. It was like being let in on a secret only this room knew about. Knight moved gracefully on stage, her face, shadowed by her long dark hair, and the white blouse paired with black knee-high stockings was very Courtney Barnett meets Aldous Harding.
I wanted to go into this totally blind, to see it with fresh eyes, and I was glad I did. Knight kicked off with “He Needs Me”, a slow and breathy ballad. This set the tone for the performance. Moody and a little bit unsettling, in the best way possible. It was a perfect beginning, representative of Knight’s unique ability to mix trip-hop, alternative, and synth sounds in her music. The sound felt sort-of 90s to me, Portishead’s vocalist Beth Gibbons came to mind, particularly in Knight’s wistful voice and her melancholic lyrics.
She leaned into the autoharp – the star of the show, whilst her voice, as haunting as it was, echoed around the room. The band, of which Knight had coolly said she picked up from Lyttelton, Christchurch, was a notably interesting contrast to Knight herself. A drummer, pianist, and bassist, all young men whose outfits and demeanor screamed nonchalant.
“Fix my car“ was the next stand-out to me. I couldn’t help but fixate on the drummer. I was absorbed in the way he carefully circled the drumsticks, almost dragging them around the surface of the drumhead. It was the kind of sound I’d liken to a feeling of suspense. This was his spotlight moment, so to speak. Paired with Knight’s vocals, the song rose and fell in a perfect rhythm.
On Knight’s final song of the night, “Cut You Loose,” she pulled out an old-school telephone. Just when I thought she couldn’t possibly get any cooler. Her voice, as chilling as it already was, became even more so with the echo of the telephone. With lyrics such as “stop looking so good in bed, I gotta get up instead, I gotta go work” – I was simply hooked. It was a beautiful end to the set, a thoughtful song that was rich in it’s meaning and wavering execution.
All in all, Knight gave a beautiful performance; her seamless blend of elegance and moodiness brings something rather unique to the music scene. The sincerity in Knight’s songwriting and voice is a rare talent, and that alone cemented her performance as remarkable and unforgettable.
– Isabelle Robinson