Every year at SXSW, there’s a handful of acts that break big, going from lesser known or practically unknown to much greater fame and while there’s no guarantee of anything at all, I’m really hoping for good things to happen for Mackenzie Scott, aka Torres.
While not entirely an unknown quantity to me, seeing Torres at the Central Presbyterian on Saturday night was a bit of a revelation. having seen Scott perform a couple of years back, I was suitably impressed at the time, describing her voice as falling somewhere between Lucinda Williams and PJ Harvey. Fast forward to 2015 and she’s amped up the PJ Harvey-isms on her upcoming album Sprinter.
Though only 23, Scott’s songs seem to embody a certain world weary persona, or at least the presentation and delivery of the songs seem to give that effect. The songs may have a certain “bigness” about them, but onstage, Scott came across as humble and most definitely grateful to both the audience and the venue. The church seemed an appropriate venue for Scott’s songs, with the audience in rapt attention. She focused more on the songs than spending too much time on stage banter (“This time of night should be like morning before I’ve had my coffee – no talking.”) and rightfully so – these songs are powerhouses that can easily stand on their own.