Becca Stevens in Berlin
Hot on the heels of the release of her latest album “Perfect Animal”, Becca Stevens and her band are on a short tour in Germany and stopped by Berlin’s Privatclub yesterday. To describe her latest offering as a singer/songwriter album with some folk elements would be an understatement. Becca is at home and at ease in all kinds of genre and since her last album “Weightless”, has clearly found her own voice. Her fresh and inimitable vocals and group sound is always a fascinating treat.
Songs like “I Asked”, “Tillery”, or “Imperfect Animals” showed her impeccable vocal qualities, let alone her songwriting skills. She used the guitar and her ukulele as enforcement, as accompaniment, as structural elements, and as a partner. Backed by her band of several years, Liam Robinson on keyboard and accordion, Chris Tordini on bass, and Jordan Perlson on drums, Becca also included the great “I’ll Notice” from her 2011 album. But the focus of course was “Perfect Animal” and her choice of cover songs only speaks for itself: Usher‘s “You Make Me Wanna” was a natural song to include because it was all over the radio at the time, she told me before the show. Frank Ocean‘s “Thinkin’ Bout You” and Steve Winwood‘s “Higher Love” were also included in her set and showed this multifaceted artist in full bloom.
Becca and her friends Rebecca Martin and Gretchen Parlato have just finished recording a new album with their group Tillery, she told me after soundcheck. And she is thinking about using several tracks from a recently commissioned work for her next album as well. She brings her signature sound and style to New York’s Rockwood Music Hall on October 12th and she’ll be back in Europe for a gig at New Morning in Paris on October 22nd and Luz de Gas in Barcelona on October 31st.
