SEVEN IN SEVEN
Welcome to Seven in Seven, where we take a look at shows coming to the region over the next week. As always, whether your musical tastes are rock ’n’ roll, jazz, heavy metal, R&B, singer-songwriter or indie, there’ll always be something to check out.
Here are seven of the best shows on the docket for the week of April 15:
1
Shipla Ray — Friday at The Foundry
The latest album from Shipla Ray, “Portrait of a Lady,” is the most searing and personal album to date from the punk rock/art pop songwriter. Written in the wake of the #metoo movement and the weathering years of the Trump Administration, the record finds Ray processing her own experiences with abuse, layering autobiographical detail with ferocious bon mots and surrealistic rock ’n’ roll gloss. To match her personal and fearless lyrics, which range from darkly funny to harrowing, she and her co-producer/collaborator Jeff Berner gathered a wide batch of sounds, from unhinged garage rock to soul ballads. Anger is present on the record, but it shares space with acceptance, gallows humor and strength. Live, the music is expected to be even more explosive.
2 Spoon — Friday at The Fillmore
Spoon’s 10th album, “Lucifer on the Sofa,” is the band’s purest rock ’n’ roll record to date. Texas-made, it is the first set of songs that the quintet has put to tape in its hometown of Austin in more than a decade. Written and recorded over the last two years — both in and out of lockdown — it marks a shift toward something louder, wilder and more fullcolor. A record of defiant optimism, it’s the sound of being in the moment and of a band cracking things open and letting them spill out onstage in a live setting for which they were built.
3 Amos Lee — Friday at The Met
It’s a homecoming show for Amos Lee this week as the singer-songwriter returns to town in support of his latest effort, “Dreamland.” The album features his biggest hit on the Billboard charts in over a decade, “Worry No More,” which is an ode to finding tranquility amid calamities. The video was filmed around his old childhood stomping grounds in Philly. As a whole, “Dreamland” sees Lee opening up about his lifelong struggles with anxiety, isolation and past trauma for the first time in his 20-year career. Recorded during the pandemic with the aim to help destigmatize the conversations around mental health, it’s easily one of his most impassioned records to date.
4 Rebirth Brass Band — Saturday at Ardmore Music Hall
Grammy-winning Rebirth
Brass Band is a true New Orleans institution. Formed in 1983by the Frazier brothers, Phillip and Keith, the band has evolved from playing the streets of the French Quarter to playing festivals and stages all over the world. While committed to upholding the tradition of brass bands, they’ve also extended themselves into the realms of funk and hip-hop to create their signature sound. Coming from the Crescent City, it’s no surprise that when they come to town, a party ensues, with audiences finding it hard not to get into the spirit of the proceedings.
5 Dance With the Dead — Tuesday at Underground Arts
Dance With the Dead kicked off the year in style with their latest album, January’s “Driven to Madness.” Formed in 2013, the electronic music duo of Justin Pointer and Tony Kim, hailing from Irvine, Calif., find inspiration in horror and science-fiction movies from the ’70s and ’80s. Fittingly, their sound reflects heavily on the analog synthesizer sounds and early heavy metal guitars. The new record even features original “Halloween” director and accomplished musician John Carpenter and his son Cody. It’s dark, menacing and bone-rattling music that will have you looking over your shoulder as much as dancing like no one else is looking. It’s perfect for an early weeknight out on the town.
6 Adia Victoria — Tuesday at Milkboy
Nashville-based singersongwriter Adia Victoria is finally getting to tour in support of her 2021release, the critically acclaimed “A Southern Gothic.” The LP sees her continue a journey through the conflicts of the American South and the troubling resonance of its past. Sonically, the album is full of juxtaposition, with equal parts historical montage and modern prophesy, dark and light, love and loathing. The 11 tracks are the musical embodiment of the relationship that so
many people, especially Black women, have with the South. Executive-produced by T Bone Burnett and co-produced by Victoria and Mason Hickman, the record features guest appearances by Jason Isbell, Margo Price, The National’s Matt Berninger and Kyshona Armstrong.
7 Tom Odell — April 21 at The Foundry
Singer, songwriter and
musician Tom Odell’s dedicated work ethic became an obsession that culminated in crippling anxiety, leading to a dark period of mental health that he eventually wrote his way through. Broader lyrical horizons needed to be matched by a musical expansion, coming in the form of his genrebending 2021 fourth studio album, “Monsters,” the final album to fulfill his major label record deal with Columbia Records. The album’s DIY and electronic sound was crafted in a threadbare way using instruments he had on hand during the height of the pandemic, including Moog synths — a move underpinned by both necessity and a desire to explore. Now an independent artist, free from the constraints of a major label, he has stripped things back and is on the road armed with a newfound sense of freedom and creative control.