Unassuming in a slim black dress with a high neckline of lace, Alexa Wilding was a soft being to behold on Saturday evening at TT the Bear’s. “Hi, I’m Alexa Wilding,” she chimed, slipping onstage nearly unnoticed, quiet but resolute against the blusterous bar crowd. Wilding was conscious of her small sound – “It’s some delicate music so we’ll do our best” – but also aware of her enchanting voice, watching as the bar brawlers slowly migrated towards the stage, pulled forth by her willowy rope of sound. Necks were craned, mouths open for a taste.
As she slipped into “Black Diamond Day,” the second song of the 30-minute set, Wilding’s eyes, dark and furry, etched small pinched lines into her face, and with each siren-like murmur her mouth opened in a determined, bloody “o,” red with lipstick. Beneath the lights of the low stage her skin took on an ethereal warmth, golden and vibrating.
Transitioning to a keyboard halfway through the show, Wilding acknowledged her cove-creating power, inviting her audience to “pretend this is the parlour room and there is a war going on outside.” With Wilding’s presence behind it, the small keyboard took on a more grandeur appearance, now of a chocolate, shining wood. The audience, sheltered against the combative chatter of bar stools by Wilding’s syrupy vocals, became intimate, beguiled friends.
Be safe, perhaps, in Wilding’s grasp as she plays two more shows this summer, both in New York City at Rockwood Music Hall.