ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN

At first sight, these two seem to be an unlikely duo: Isobel Campbell, the soft, silent, former member of Belle And Sebastian, and hard-boiled Mark Lanegan, a destroyer, Kurt Corbain’s friend, one of the creators and survivors of grunge. Yet the critics celebrate them as they’re back with their third album. The beauty and the beast will play one of their rare concerts at the Rockhal Club on 17 February 2011, a date not to be missed.

Like Gainsbourg/Birkin or Hazlewood/Sinatra, Isobell Campbell and Mark Lanegan form one of the most astonishing, solid and amazing transatlantic alliances. The former singer of Belle and Sebastian from Scotland seems to be naive, but she’s not the innocent girl lead astray by a rude cowboy, as one could imagine. From “Ballad of the Broken Seas” (March 2006) to “Sunday at Devil Dirt” (May 2008) and their third album “Hawk”, this duo mixes ballads between rusty blues and sophisticated pop music, sewed together Scottish style.

One could imagine Isobel dominated by the male part, by her partner’s sticky melancholy, but in fact it’s Isobel who wears the pants, who writes the songs, produces the album and directs the miraculous survivor. Mark, the battered wanderer, walks with a stick, singing with his divinely sad and unique voice which was worn out by Uncle Jack. What makes this duo so devilishly seductive is the troubling friction of two voices that are opposed to each other and yet extremely sensual, between leather and lace, between an eight-day-old beard and baby skin.

Their ballads are simply magical, dark and illuminated at a time, carnal and clutching, able to give the most frigid couples hot flushes and torrid goose bumps to the greatest love stories. Without a doubt, this rare occasion to see Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan live is not to be missed for anything in the world. This event on 17 February is more than a concert; it’s going to be a great moment of celebration for the heart and the spirit…

Rockhal is a partner of KULTURPASS

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