The Quietus at OKAY KAYA

“Oh, gravity, damn gravity, he keeps floating away from me”: the first words OKAY KAYA utters from the stage tonight give a clear indication of the mood we can expect here. Though she arrives with a winning grin, this is clearly not going to be an evening of top bantz. Armed only with an electric guitar that she handles with such a lightness of touch that it’s a wonder it too doesn’t float away, KAYA’s songs are so delicate as to be almost non-existent. But that’s not because they’re not good: rather, they recall, if anything, Jeff Buckley’s first Live At Siné EP, shorn of its florid embellishments. “I guess you never loved me like you should,” she almost whispers a few songs in, and there’s barely a dry eye in the house. Bewitchingly beautiful, heartbreakingly overflowing with sorrow, and yet strangely, encouragingly uplifting. Better than OK, that’s for sure.