POP MUSIC REVIEW : Songs of Romantic Longing

You might expect an American art-cabaret singer who based her career in Belgium for a decade to come equipped with a heavy Euro-attitude, but in her Los Angeles debut at LunaPark on Tuesday, Anna Domino didn’t do any persona-pushing. The gaunt singer-songwriter projected a nervous, bemused manner, interspersing deadpan wisecracks between the songs.

Backed by her own accordion and meticulously supported by guitarist-banjoist Michel Delory and amazing percussionist Hearn Gadbois, she sang in a deceptively plain voice. With a suggestion of huskiness, it insinuates rather than asserts--ideal for her twilight moods of romantic longing.

She expresses a touching vulnerability, but while her music is evocative and seductive, it isn’t equipped to summon something like real despair. Her chilling version of the creepy song sung by the little girl in “Night of the Hunter” indicated she’d do well to move from pastels into the dark.