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Soul-Low Showcase
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Ollabelle are something of a great roots hope. The New York City sextet put a youthful spin on old-time spiritual music, mostly gospel blues, that employs as many as six harmony voices, textural guitar, lounge and church keyboard tones, and even on occasion the lazy, floating vibe of trance music. Although most of their repertoire was written 50 to 150 years ago, they’re signed to a major label and will have their debut, Ollabelle (Columbia), in stores on March 9. Ollabelle began their Boston debut last Wednesday with an explosion of vocal expression so full of power and grace it was almost shocking. Their nearly a cappella rendition of "Before This Time," a tune culled from a Library of Congress recordings of the Georgia Sea Island singers and underpinned on stage by drummer Tony Leone’s New Orleans street-parade beat, sounded like something from a Deep South revival meeting. It rang with energy and the dramatic, clear-toned voices of Amy Helm and Fiona McBain (the latter doubles on bass and guitar). Helm is the daughter of Band drummer and linchpin Levon Helm, but if you’ve heard her in the past with his blues groups, be assured that she’s become a much better singer, with solid pitch, real presence, and a reserve of soul. The Lizard Lounge concert, which was attended by a small audience of mostly insiders including musician/producer Al Kooper and the chief pop critics of the Globe and the Herald, duplicated the pleasures and the pitfalls of their album. Keyboardist Glenn Patscha lacks the bright vocal expressiveness of Helm and McBain when he sings lead. It’s the female voices as well as atmospheric flourishes like slide guitar colored by a delay pedal or volume swells and Patscha’s floating organ chords that create their extraordinary performances, like a turn through Blind Willie Johnson’s "Soul of a Man" that balanced gentle drive with a proud beauty. The trouble starts when Ollabelle polish off the rough edges. Hearing McBain croon about the evils of Satan as if the band were planning to license their take on the ordinarily bold spiritual "Elijah Rock" to a Starbucks sampler is incongruous. And the bloodless treatment of the traditional "Jesus on the Mainline" is wimpy muzak — impotent enough to scare off the under-30, NPR-spurning audience that their more energetic and mesmeric numbers could reach. Ollabelle will return to the Lizard Lounge this Wednesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. as part of the club’s free nightly Soul-Low series (call 617-547-0759), so you can judge for yourself.
BY TED DROZDOWSKI
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