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Anohni review – uniquely gifted interpreter pays homage to mentor Lou Reed

On this special night, Anohni reveals her rarely heard talents as a covers artist as she expands the boundaries and musicality of beloved – and obscure – Reed songs

That said, striking as her performances were, they were easy to overlook, The Raven being an album that also featured Steve Buscemi and Willem Dafoe attempting to deafen each other by bellowing bad dialogue at the tops of their voices and David Bowie singing about being a frog, while the subsequent live shows also involved Reed appending a lengthy scat vocal solo to Sunday Morning, performing a funk version of All Tomorrow’s Parties and inviting a tai chi master onstage to do the splits while he sang Perfect Day: in both cases, there really was an awful lot to take in. It’s a beautifully curated set that shifts easily between the songs you might expect, Femme Fatale and Pale Blue Eyes among them, and deep cuts: her voice is an oddly but appealingly serene presence during a tumultuous version of Shooting Star, from 1978’s Street Hassle. tracks from 1976’s Rock and Roll Heart that gave the distinct impression Reed had given up even pretending to try – into a potent hymn to Manhattan, extemporising new lyrics about Aids and 9/11 alongside the assurance that the city still contains “all the dreams I care about”.

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