In Tua Nua Fails to Connect at Club Lingerie

In pop it’s not always what you know (or do), or even who you know, but where you’re from that can count for a lot. Thanks to U2, Ireland is the current hot spot.

It was likely that connection that brought a turn-away crowd to Club Lingerie on Saturday night for a show by Dublin’s In Tua Nua, a five-man, two-woman band whose original line-up included widely heralded singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor. As it turned out, there was very little in the band’s performance for Celtophiles to latch on to, despite the group’s use of such traditional Irish elements as uilleann pipes and fiddle.

What was offered was a mixed bag of material with a grand sweep that seemed more inspired by American arenas than the Irish countryside or the Dublin streets--though titles like “Woman on Fire” and “The Innocents and the Honest Ones” bespoke a certain U2-like weightiness. On these, singer/focal point Leslie Dowdall’s delivery and mannerisms seemed forced, and she was able to convey little sense of what burns inside her .

Instead it was bouncing and skipping violinist Lovely Previn who showed the most spirit of the septet, as well as the most impressive musical skills (befitting her lineage--she’s conductor/composer Andres’ daughter). Accordingly, it was a triad of relatively care-free, poppier songs coming midway through the 80-minute set that stood out as the high point.