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This week we take a look at two local artists who have taken their music in new directions. Jazz singer Lauren Henderson explores Latin and South American music in a collection of originals and standards based on the theme of female empowerment. Meanwhile, Norwell hard rockers Totem deliver a cathartic album that’s mostly softer, more acoustic tunes detailing loss and its aftermath.
Salem witches inspire new songs
Marblehead native Lauren Henderson always points out, when meeting people for the first time, that her hometown is right next to Salem, which served as the inspiration for her new album, “The Witch. See the article : In this Yiddish music festival, tradition is everything – and nothing – J..”
“Everybody always knows Salem, and they’ll usually say, ‘Oh, the witches!'” Henderson said. “I have always felt proud to be from that area, but what happened to those women is something that is known everywhere. And we all wonder, what could they have done to deserve to be executed…? That was the beginning of this album, wanting to explore some of those things, the role of women in society, and also pay tribute to the beautiful songs of Central and South America. I have ancestry in Montserrat and Panama, my grandfather was there when they were building the canal, and I wanted to make a record that celebrated that”.
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Henderson, 35, graduated from Wheaton College in Norton and went on to earn his MBA from Brown University and founded his own Brontosaurus Records label. But his studies also included musical traditions in Puebla, Mexico, and flamenco in Córdoba, Spain, through the universities of both places.
The new album, released on July 29, is available on streaming platforms or via laurenhendersonmusic.com. It includes four Henderson originals, as well as seven Latin American standards. There are classic songs like “Perfidia,” a story of romantic betrayal performed first by Xavier Cugat and then Nat “King” Cole, and lesser-known numbers like “La Sitiera,” a gripping story of lost love. (Coincidentally, “La Sitiera” is also on the latest album from country rockers The Mavericks, whose tour played at Plymouth’s Memorial Hall in June.) Henderson is the kind of vocalist who excels at nuance, and throughout these 11 songs she achieves intimacy that makes it seem like she’s right there in the room with the listener, while Latin flavors give her a simmering warmth.
Henderson’s seventh full-length album is part of a two-album project he completed during the pandemic. Since moving to New York City, he has maintained a busy performing and recording schedule with some of the Big Apple’s best jazz musicians, some of whom appear on the record, usually in quartet or quintet format.
“I wrote during the pandemic and at times I am proud of my creativity, having completed two albums during that time,” she said. “But there are other times where I think I should have done four. We will release the second album this fall, and the second album will be like a response to it. This first one is all in Spanish and the second one will be almost all in English. I wanted it to be like the records speak to each other and we made them in the same sessions so we could mix and match songs with the same groups of musicians.”
“Perfidia” turns into a slow, sultry samba with John Chin’s playful piano lines giving it elasticity, while his piano also drives the bright and upbeat “La Sitiera”. It is worth finding the lyrics of “La Sitiera” and its translation, as it is a truly remarkable poetic work.
“I think it’s a wonderful song,” Henderson said. “I grew up with my parents listening to the Buena Vista Social Club record and they had a version of that song. Those lyrics are deep. I think they reflect the stages of romance, but also of society where the idea is: ‘We have something good and strong here; let’s not screw it up. That caught my attention, with all the things that are happening in the world today.”
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The title cut “La Bruja” (The Witch), is attributed to Jarocho and the Vera Cruz area of Mexico. The song has a mystical aura enhanced by the dazzling interplay of Sean Mason’s piano and Joel Ross’s vibraphone.
“I wanted that mystical feel, and I knew Joel on vibes was something I needed for that tune,” Henderson noted. “I learned that song when I was studying in Mexico and it is a very popular traditional song. I loved that.”
Henderson’s most striking original is “Amistad,” a quintet piece with a hauntingly beautiful melody and understated Latin accents. The 1997 film “Amistad” told the story of the 1839 incident in which slaves seized a Spanish slave ship off the coast of Cuba and later captured it along the eastern seaboard by the US Navy. After a lengthy legal fight involving John Quincy Adams, the slaves were freed. On this song, Mason and Ross craft the mesmerizing melody and Gabe Schneider adds a subtle guitar solo that builds to an inspiring finale, as if telling the story sonorously in addition to the singer’s emotional voice.
“I wrote ‘Friendship’ to highlight my culture,” Henderson said. “I have been very interested in the African diaspora in Latin America and I wanted to cover that. People think of that ship, off the coast of Cuba, and their music has echoes of Africa, that Afro-Cuban sound, so that song allowed me to explore all the colors and sub-colors of my culture.”
Henderson heads to Europe for a tour that will span the whole of September, but will perform at the Beacon Theater in Marblehead on October 29.
New album from Norwell’s Totem
Norwell’s Totem began in the mid-1990s as a hard rock group, releasing their debut album in 1997 and enjoying a solid career in New England. They took a step back when life intervened, but reunited in 2009 and have done occasional shows ever since. Read also : Amanda Shires has gone from “done with music” to her best album yet. However, major songwriters David Kaslauskas and Gary Alex have never stopped writing, and the new album, “The Power to Forgive,” shows not only the maturity of that experience, but also a distinctly new style.
While a couple of hard rock songs frame the album, most of “The Power to Forgive” is in a low-key, often acoustic style that evokes New Wave indie rock or British pop. “Expendable Like,” for example, a toe-wiggling rocker that’s a sweet look back at lost love, could be a cut from a Squeeze album. It is one of the best surprises of 2022, that Kaslauskas and Alex have become the new Difford and Tillbrook.
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The album also follows a kind of chronological path, the loss and regret of a painful breakup, and finally the redemption of getting over that. That cathartic feeling pervades the entire record, and lyricist Kaslauskas admitted that it reflects what was a difficult period in his own life. The album was recorded primarily at Mic’d Up Audio Productions, which Alex runs, and also at 37′ Productions, both in Rockland.
“Get Carried Away” opens the album with the Totem sound we’re all used to, raw and hard with sawtooth guitar lines and a voice whose longing is palpable. But then “Sister Melandrome” and “Ghost to You” shift to softer, acoustic-focused rock and a bittersweet tone that echoes the pain behind it. “Sweet for Nothing” is a charming acoustic guitar ballad, and “Just Enough” works with a stiff keyboard figure as the course of a painful relationship is retraced. The energetic acoustic guitar lines of “Climber” and the bright harpsichord tones of “Watch the World” signal the rise of darkness with their soaring pop. And then “Untitled Eight” returns to Totem’s hard rock foundation.
The Totem record is available on all streaming platforms or through the band’s bandcamp.com site. Physical copies can be found at Norwell’s Inclusion Records, where fans can pay whatever they want for them, or just grab them for free, because Kaslauskas and Alex simply want their music heard. Plans are underway for a release party and show at Inclusion Records this fall.
Manilow, Motley Crue and more on tap
Thursday finds Barry Manilow headlining the TD Garden. Friday has FREE music: Richie Rich and the 24 Karat Funk Band at 7 p.m. at launch in Hingham Harbour. The great Motley Crue/Def Leppard Tour comes to Fenway Park on Friday and Saturday. See the article : How Anita Baker redefined Quiet Storm music with sophisticated soul. On Saturday night, Fitz and the Tantrums will have you dancing at the Leader Bank Pavilion, or stop by The C-Note in Hull, where Texas bluesman Willie J. Laws competes with Italian guitarist Roberto Morbioli, or visit Soundcheck Studios. for the acclaimed tribute to Aerosmith Draw the line.
On Saturdays and Sundays from 3 to 8 p.m. m., downtown Quincy hosts a free multicultural folk festival, featuring polka, klezmer and oompah bands as well. Sunday afternoon finds New Hampshire pianist/singer Veronica Lewis (compared to both Carole King and New Orleans queen Katie Webster) at John Alden Sportsman’s Club, while Bagful of Blues is at The Greyhound Tavern in Bridgewater. Remember Emily Wade Adams, whose Nancy Wilson show ran at The Spire Center in 2019? Adams is back and performing his originals on August 11 at the Cotuit Center for the Arts.
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