Love endeavor

When the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm was renovated a few years ago they included a lot more than just a central performance hall. There are also studios available to under-25 artists, and a smaller for-hire performance space called the FREEDM Room. It was in that latter space that I found myself last night for a smooth performance by American singer Alice Smith.

Before I go on, some disclosure: I’m friends with Smith’s guitarist, Thom Loubet. I was at his wedding a few weeks ago. He’s staying at my place right now. In fact, he’s probably still in bed as I write this, the lazy arse. Maybe I’m biased, but I think my comments below are fair. Whatever, I’m not charging anyone money for this review.

The group I was with found themself enjoying beverages at the nearby Lock Tavern (where I bumped into Scroobius Pip and mentioned how much I’d enjoyed his set at the London Word Festival) and so we missed the first opener. When we did finally make it to the Roundhouse we found that the FREEDM Room is the very definition of intimate. There couldn’t have been more than 150 people there, and it was pretty much at capacity.

We did catch the last three songs from the second opener, though, littlelostdavid (aka singer/guitarist David J. Roch, now with drummer Chris Basford). I was impressed. Roch’s songwriting infuses a lot of blues and country-folk to what could otherwise be ordinary wistful-guy-with-an-acoustic-guitar folk. Since I’m a big blues and folk fan – I’m a sucker for any song that mentions the Devil – the songs appealed to me. Roch’s voice was strong, full-throated and emotive, with some Muse-like falsetto touches. I spoke to him afterwards and bought his five-song EP. It costs £7, though he settled for £6.90 since he needed change and I had that exact amount in my pocket. I’ll try to catch him play again, and maybe give him the 10p I owe him.

At about 9:30pm Alice Smith’s band (including an incredibly handsome guitarist) took the stage followed closely by the lady herself. You could say that Smith sings R&B and soul, but you’d have to say at the same time that she does so with a lot of rock sound and sensibility. That sound came to the forefront when she did covers by Bonnie Raitt (”Have a Heart”) and The Pretenders (”Don’t Get Me Wrong”). But most of the songs were smooth, purring grooves that worked themselves up into torso-shaking soul climaxes.

Smith’s voice sounded great. It’s rich, full, and has a nice twang in the lower ranges. She’s got some deep raspiness that reminds me of the underrated Joan Osborne. It’s a feel-good voice that wraps around the lines. There were no startling, avant-garde songs, just cool, smokey soul tunes. While it wasn’t the sexiest of venues the size was just right: being close to Smith you could see how effortless her vocals were. And despite the tiny venue size there were a couple of other celebs watching: fan and friend Damon Dash and tour-mate Citizen Cope.

If you’re going to the O2 Wireless Festival this week, Smith’s playing twice there: once on Thursday and once on Sunday. She’s also doing a show at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on Monday night, which I’m also going to.

If you go, make sure you cheer the guitar solos.

Image from eldebe™’s images via Creative Commons license