Gig review: Camille O’Sullivan, Glasgow Oran Mor

SINGERS who only perform other people’s material often struggle for critical credibility.

The French/Irish Edinburgh Fringe favourite Camille O’Sullivan confounds such a perception by being not only a superbly eloquent and dazzlingly versatile song interpreter, but also an extraordinarily compelling all-round performer, whose original theatre training brings additional dimensions of expression and spectacle to her vocal prowess.

A femme fatale capable of a fishwife’s ferocity, with a demeanour at once fey and faintly deranged, she’d merit the standard accolade about singing the phonebook if it weren’t for the vividly etched individuality with which she imbues every song. This transformative facility extends even to such well-kent fare as Johnny Cash’s late classic Hurt, and Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right - the latter reinvented here as a thrillingly splenetic honky-tonk kiss-off, before her contrastingly dreamy, delicate rendition of Radiohead’s True Love Waits.

Vampishly clad in black and scarlet, and backed by a super-responsive three-piece band, she conveyed the impression of fully inhabiting her own imagined backstory for each melody and set of lyrics, be it the wistful half-whisper of Declan O’Rourke’s Galileo, the apocalyptic cabaret of The Tiger Lillies’ Crack of Doom, or the all-out gut-spilling intensity of Bessie Smith’s Sugar Bowl.

Balancing huge charisma with impish charm, she kept a near capacity crowd in the palm of her hand throughout, and thoroughly earned her standing ovation.

Rating: ****