EVE SELIS ***
CABARET VOLTAIRE, EDINBURGHA FAVOURITE of Radio 2's "Whispering" Bob Harris, San Diego singer Eve Selis socked it straight to us with her opening number, One Day At A Time – not the cheesy 1980s Lena Martell hit,
but a punchy, foursquare roadhouse rocker from Selis's recent fifth album, Angels and Eagles. It immediately established that Selis possesses a tremendous voice, its scorching, rasp-edged, blues-shouter force tempered by a richer, rounder soulfulness, and is backed by a top-notch band, including two superb lead guitarists – Marc Intravaia and ex-Johnny Cash sideman Jim Soldi – along with bassist Rick Nash and drummer Larry Grano (the last of whom bears a startling resemblance to Alexei Sayle circa The Young Ones).
Selis also proved a winningly committed, vivacious performer, palpably giving her all both during and in between songs, and clearly relishing doing so. The show's main weakness, unfortunately, lay in her mostly co-written material, much of it taken from Angels and Eagles, and too much of it occupying overly generic country-rock territory, shading at times towards similarly standard-issue power pop, while the prevailing full-throttle volume and pace came to feel like a somewhat relentless barrage.
The exceptions in both respects were a handful of slower, folkier songs, among them the new album's title track and The Ballad of Kate Morgan, an evocative, Eagles-esque cut from her previous release. These brought out the subtler dynamics and colours of Selis's singing, including tinges of gospel and soul, providing a welcome degree of both contrast and respite.
The full article contains 262 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
