Photo by Ken Sears
One thing I've been loving lately is that musicians aren't stuck working within rigid genres these days. You get artists picking and choosing from multiple styles of music to craft their sounds. One of my favorite recent discoveries is Mei Semones, who blends jazz and pop music along with indie rock and folk. Her new album Animaru is stellar, and when it was announced she was coming to Boston, I knew I wanted to check her out live.
Mei Semones went to Berklee College of Music, so it was fitting that her first headlining show in town was at The Red Room @ Cafe 939, a venue run by the school. The crowd typically seems to be Berklee students, which might be why the audience is always wonderfully attentive at this venue. For Mei Semones' show, they were nearly reverent, and with good reason. Semones is an incredibly captivating performer, and even with a full band, the show seemed intensely intimate as if she was playing solo. The songs off Animaru were the highlight, with the crowd being quite familiar with songs like "Dumb Feeling" and "Zarigani." Live, Semones' music leans a little more into the worlds of jazz and pop, and she completely nailed both genres expertly. It gives her this interesting mixture of sounding wildly fresh and original while also feeling familiar. If Saturday night was any indication, Semones won't be playing small clubs much longer.
John Roseboro opened the show solo. According to his website, he blends "... Latin influence, jazz, and folk." He was the perfect opener for Mei Semones, and I don't think I've seen someone play jazz quite as well solo with an acoustic guitar. He was an incredibly engaging performer with stage banter right up there with his fantastic playing and songs. As great as he was, the highlight was the end of his set when Mei Semones joined him for a couple of songs they have recorded together. Sometimes two people just mesh together perfectly, and that's the case with Roseboro and Semones.
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