Indie singer Stella Donnelly stamps her dazzling mark in Vivid show

Indie pop singer-songwriter Stella Donnelly turned heads when she opened for the John Butler Trio and Missy Higgins at the Opera House Forecourt concert in February.

Indie pop singer Stella Donnelly performing for Vivid at the Utzon Room in Sydney Opera House. Picture: Prudence Upton

• All lit up with Dirty Three
• On the road again
• Arlo’s blast from the past
• Classical Marsalis masterclass

The 27-year-old from Fremantle immediately won the crowd over with her vivacious in-your-face brand of folk-rock with some nice jazz touches thrown in.

Acid lines are delivered with a radiant smile and a breathy voice with an attractive flutter. Songs range from the poppy — Tricks and Die are both upbeat and catchy, though with serious undertones — to the impassioned Boys Will Be Boys, which deals with the damage and fallout sexual assault brings to both sexes, written just before Harvey Weinstein hit the headlines and the Me Too campaign started.

Politics, intergenerational strife and the privilege of being an “Anglo” in Australia are all dealt with a wit and intelligence that is sharp as a tack.

Humour is rarely far away, as in the song You Owe Me she wrote about her ex-boss when she worked as a barmaid “pulling plastic pints of flat VB”. And neither is she afraid to expose her emotions. Vulnerable she isn’t, despite her elfin girlish Audrey Hepburn looks. She’s half Welsh and very down to earth. If she hadn’t chosen to be a singer-songwriter she would have been great at stand-up.

DOGS

The 75-minute set ranged over older solo material alongside a bracket with her newly formed band, showcasing songs from their recently released debut album Beware Of The Dogs, the “dogs” being in this case old pollies and what she sees as the exploitative white corporate suits.

At the top of her lungs she has the ability to make your neck hair stand up.

She plays a flesh toned Fender Strat mainly using finger style and her well-constructed songs show she has benefited from her jazz and contemporary music studies at West Australian Academy of Performing Arts.

Three sold-out performances at the Utzon Room adds up to more than 750 people so the word has already got around that Donnelly has pulling power. At the top of her lungs she has the ability to make your neck hair stand up.

The venue was the perfect setting for Donnelly and her band of friends, and we should be hearing plenty more from her.

And a warning: the video contains explicit language and material.

VIVID

● CONCERT: Stella Donnelly

● WHERE: Sydney Opera House Utzon Room

● WHEN: Tuesday, May 28