Kim David Smith hoped to set the scene for higher days forward when he premiered his newest cabaret present, “Mostly Marlene,” simply days earlier than COVID-19 shuttered theaters and reside efficiency venues world wide in March 2020.
5 years later, the Australian-born actor and singer has captured “Mostly Marlene” for posterity as a brand new reside album, recorded at Joe’s Pub on the Public Theater in New York and launched Friday. And although the world has modified considerably, he mentioned his mission for the venture stays.
“My album is proof of life for happy queer spaces, full of happy queer folk and allied others,” Smith informed HuffPost. “I made a gay album for queer people, and especially hope it is streamed in Republican states – Lord knows they need some queer joy!”
As its title suggests, “Mostly Marlene” is Smith’s tribute to the late Hollywood icon Marlene Dietrich, with visitor performers who embrace drag performer and playwright Charles Busch and Welsh pop artist Shiny Gentle Shiny Gentle.
One of many highlights of the present, nevertheless, is his rendition of two Kylie Minogue songs, “In Your Eyes” and “Slow,” carried out as a throwback, piano-led mashup.
Watch Kim David Smith carry out “In Your Eyes” and “Slow” under.
Describing Dietrich and Minogue as his “mega-muses,” he mentioned the choice to place his twist on the 2 songs was a straightforward one: “I received [Kylie’s] first album on vinyl on my 6th birthday, and she’s been part of the family ever since.”
After relocating to New York in 2007, Smith started establishing himself as a stalwart of Manhattan’s nightlife scene with a repertoire that features each fashionable pop in addition to requirements sung in German and French. His debut reside album, “Kim David Smith Live at Joe’s Pub,” was launched in 2020, and he’s routinely taken his act on the street, performing throughout the U.S. in addition to his native Australia.
The discharge of “Mostly Marlene” appears auspiciously timed. Dietrich rose to international fame throughout Germany’s Weimar Republic period, a interval outlined by civil unrest and financial challenges that some media retailers have in contrast to America’s present sociopolitical local weather.
Hiroyuki Ito through Getty Photographs
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Acknowledging it’s a “ghastly time,” significantly for members of the LGBTQ+ group, Smith is hopeful audiences will see his work as a testomony to queer empowerment.
“Music is part of the protest, part of the galvanizing of hearts, part of retaining your culture in the face of fascist erasure,” he mentioned. “We’ll still be singing our songs, whether at the Kennedy Center or not.”
