Soulajar sets the mood in a strong vocal performance - By N.L. Belardes

A delicate waft of incense. A smoky stage lit with hints of color while the new Coldplay CD played over the slightly buzzing sound system. The buzz itself provided a hint of texture in the theatre. The people filed in, not really the multi-ethnic crowd I was expecting for such a jazzy experimental rock band; but people came nonetheless. A girlfriend or two of the band sat in the lower seats while many filled in near the top, perhaps expecting the sound to be too hard on the ears. Not me, I came down and leaned on a wall, even sat in the second row for a while, waiting for the band to come on stage. Possibly from technical difficulties resulting in the speaker buzz, the band performed a bit late. That was different from the night before when Lorenzo of Fatt Katt and the Vonzippers said, “We are impeccable about when we go onstage.” OK, one band’s impeccable nature is another band's tardiness, which is more like me. I was just glad to show up ten minutes early.



I was quick to learn Soulajar’s show is about mood and texture. I had already known they are self-promoted; they told me strongly in an email. But then, every unsigned band is. And most around here don’t have a manager. As I tell bands all the time, “You have created wonderful music. Now you have to create yourselves. Go self-invent.” As far as I can tell, Soulajar is on a great road to being fully self-invented. They have taken their richly made jazz-inspired rock songs and self-invented a band that puts on an intimate show with the audience by truly blending song, visuals, lighting, and laughter.





A few times during the show I felt they were talking to their personal friends and not to me: the novelist from the ghetto who sometimes can’t afford ten bucks a ticket for one band. But then I understand that if you have a show at the Spotlight Theatre and you are one band, you have to cover costs. And this is a band who puts on a lengthy show, definitely worth the ten bucks.

My first reaction to Soulajar was to look through the mood, peer through the stage show textures, which were all part of the intimate stylings of Soulajar. I peered into the heart of their music and what I found was a richly woven mixture of rock that moves through hard rock motifs, rocking guitar riffs, jazzy guitar riffs, and intricate keyboard driven songs. Strip away the hard-rocking and few jazzy songs built on improvised textures, and what I mostly saw was a jazzy heartfelt pop band with a sound driven by Jon Ranger’s moody vocals.



What works best for Soulajar is Jon Ranger at the keyboards, mixing his vocals with piano-driven textures, that when in a strong groove, purposely overpowers the audience and renders the rest of the band into fine layers of sound meant to build Ranger’s passionate vocals. That’s what I loved about Soulajar: Ranger’s powerful confidence and pop keyboard style that has the ability to passionately move the audience to the near tearful moments of a great Coldplay song. I found that when Jon Ranger left the keyboards for some frontman-style rocking numbers I was wishing him back behind the keyboards, not because he’s a poor performer, but because Soulajar clearly is most inspiring when I can see the rock star/keyboard mix and confidence of those moments.



What else did I enjoy? The flickering lighting was exciting but made it difficult to take pictures without a flash. Their joyous nature, laughter and joking on stage was refreshing to see in each of the artists.

Bands must self-invent themselves, and hopefully Soulajar, as they progress and further develop their rock band image they will truly realize that such a strength as Ranger behind the keyboards will truly take them towards all bands destinations: to get signed, to perform, to move people with strong lyrics, and to have an exciting career as artists who connect to people...

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Saturday, June 25, 2005. You can leave your response.