Halfway through her opening set for Cary Brothers last night, Carina Round apologized for her voice being “fucking shot,” which was news to me.  Her set, which was admittedly a bit short, nicely showcased her PJ Harvey-esque voice, and dovetailed material from both The Disconnection and Round’s newest album, Slow Motion Addict, as well as the debut of a new acoustic track.  

Round is a tiny woman, and last night she looked a bit like Winona Rider in "Beetlejuice," or maybe Helena Bonham Carter in…pretty much anything she’s been in recently.  She started off the set fairly quietly, and her voice was strong and clear, but she took her time amping up to the vocal acrobatics that characterized her performance the first time I saw her (opening for Snow Patrol in 2004).  By the end of the show, Round was wailing crazily into the mic, intensely and frantically beating on her guitar, and doing scissor kicks to “Take the Money.”  

The set was perhaps too heavy on material from Slow Motion Addict (I wanted to hear “Lacuna,” but I guess not badly enough to yell it out and be That Guy), but Round brought the energy that characterized The Disconnection to her performance last night.  A short but nicely executed set.