Buirski: Intense Anguish at McCabe’s

Want to add a little intensity to your life?

Try an evening with Felicity Buirski, who played McCabe’s on Friday night. She’s one of the latest buzzes on the female-confessional-singer-songwriter front.

How’s a title like “Internal Bleeding” grab you? Or any of a darkened boudoir full of songs--in both first and third person--about women who have allowed themselves to be used by men and grew to hate themselves (and the men) for it. Not exactly first-date entertainment.

Most of the ilk tend to comfort listeners with the knowledge that the pain is universal. Buirski makes people decidedly uncomfortable in the interest of existential nurturing.

The experience was part empathy, part catharsis and part emotional voyeurism--all very comparable to Buirski’s obvious mentor Leonard Cohen. But where Cohen’s dry, stately delivery keeps his anguish earthbound, Buirski’s forceful, husky voice--complemented by two violinists--sometimes sends it spinning into the ionosphere. Which is both good (because you have to go chase after it) and bad (because some people won’t bother).