Micah P. Hinson @ Union Chapel 2/06/10

A frail troubadour wanders on stage sporting a white jacket and black glasses, recalling a young (but infinitely weirder) Elvis Costello. He moves with small jerky mannerism, perhaps a product of his degenerative back condition. He carries a small acoustic guitar with a piece of paper bearing Guthrie's famous words 'this machine kills fascists' taped haphazardly to the side. Also taped to the guitar is a photograph of a woman holding a gun. This, he explains, is Kitty LaRoux. She can be found on the cover of his new album Micah P Hinson and The Pioneer Saboteurs. She has nice boobies and more pictures of her can be found inside the record sleeve, as well as other 'sultry things'. He explains all this with mischievous glee of teenage boy who has just discovered his dad's porno stash.

When he opens his mouth to sing his first song of the evening 2's and 3's the sound that comes out is totally incongruous with his delicate frame. It's the kind of sound that can only come from someone strange, troubled and totally at odds with the world. So powerful is this sound that by the second verse I notice a single tear sliding its way down my cheek.



The next song Take Off That Dress For Me serves to further highlight the dichotomy between the manly voice and desire and the boyish frame and fragility. It is this contrast that makes Micah's music so powerful.

Hinson is a consummate raconteur filling the space between songs with engaging stories about his life, peppered with equal measures of humour and sadness. He explains that it is on this very stage at the Union Chapel that he proposed to his wife three years ago. His wife is sitting in the front row and the love between them is self-evident. As a testament to it he dedicates I Keep Having These Dreams to her



Other stories include an adolescent attempt to swallow bleach followed by a visit to the mental institution. He manages to somehow make this funny with a quip about another patient stealing his bacon and eggs with his bare hands. The song Seven Horses Seen Or Through The Hours, Still Comes Another Day is about a handsome young friend with blue eyes who 'got all the chicks' but spent his adolescence in an out of prison and ended up shooting himself in the face.



I read an article questioning Hinson's authenticity. The gist of it was that the writer believes that Hinson hams up his suffering and that, in effect, he hasn't actually suffered any more than any of us. He argues that dalliances with drugs and destructive romances are standard experiences and that Hinson is just playing at the role of tortured artist. While all this maybe true, for me, the authenticity comes not from his experience, but from his whole being. Some people are fragile souls, almost too delicate for this world. Micah is one of those souls.