The Truth is Out There about David Duchovny’s singing voice: he really isn’t very good. I am not sure if it even qualifies as singing. It’s more a sort of mumbled warbling, and he obviously brings the same level of energy to it as he does to his acting. Let’s be polite and call it understated. (No doubt it will be lodged in the same cultural memory box as Bruce Willis’ The Return of Bruno.) Still, though, that didn’t stop people from turning out in droves to hear him launch his debut album, Hell or Highwater at The Cutting Room in New York.
Dressed all in black just like a rock star – or a man in mid-life crisis who thinks that being a rock star would be kind of cool – Duchovny hugged the microphone and brought his signature intensity to an array of songs. Fans were already enjoying the show more than any respectable adult should, but they went into paroxysms of delight when Duchovny’s X-Files co-star Gillian Anderson joined him on stage for a duet. Was this some sort of cunning marketing ploy to get people excited about the new X-Files TV series? If so, it worked. Anderson even came back for an encore. The only way this could have been better is if Jamie Dornan or Mads Mikkelsen had suddenly popped out on stage clutching a harmonica.