Keren Ann goes with the flow
Midway through her set Saturday night at the Somerville Theatre, Keren Ann observed that she did not like to repeat herself, thus, the singer-songwriter is not a big fan of stage banter. Instead, the Israel-born, France-reared singer-songwriter said she preferred to "let things flow."
That's exactly what she did during a meticulous 75-minute set that saw the current shift from gentle forward meanderings to a more ominous undertow. And for a nomadic artist who favors images of sailors, the ocean , and the changing tides of love and life for criminals and wayfarers, the fluid metaphor was no idle coincidence.
Her latest, self-titled release finds the 34-year-old singing completely in English and mixing a wider variety of textures into her tender sound, including fuzzy guitar and spikier (relatively) percussion. But Keren Ann's live trio configuration -- her voice and guitar, the inventive trumpet work of Avishai Cohen , and the many moods of keyboardist ( and opening act ) Jason Hart -- guided the material away from that edge and pushed it closer to the dusky, noir-ish sound for which she is becoming better known.
It is a hushed, lean-forward melange of pop, folk , and jazz that is capped by the singer's whispery caress of a voice and is tailor-made for bleary mornings after, rainy afternoons , and soul-searching late nights.
Echoes of other lovers of the wistful ache such as Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, Astrud Gilberto, Hope Sandoval , and Chris Isaak could be heard throughout the performance, which was attentively received by the half-capacity house.
Hart, whose own strangely beatific opening set of progressive-tinged new - agey pop was a bit over- earnest, was a great asset , sprinkling a variety of sounds, from music- box tinkles to atmospheric white noise to stately organ over the proceedings. And Cohen was an ace in the hole , coloring in the edges with solos both bright and melancholy.
The languid "Chelsea Burns " smoldered appropriately as the singer imbued her voice with a sinister edge. "By the Cathedral" was a bittersweet and blue acoustic rumination made even more poignant by a distant-sounding and downcast trumpet solo. "It Ain't no Crime" -- stripped of the album's distortion -- was a defiant mid - tempo saunter that evoked the winking, old-timey croon of Leon Redbone. The mood lightened with the buoyant triplet handclaps and shiny melody of "Lay Your Head Down." And an encore of " The Tennessee Waltz" was a heartfelt send- off.
She sang only one tune en Francais, but no matter the language of choice, Keren Ann's flow was an uninterrupted stream it was a pleasure to float down. 