JHENE AIKO with SZA at Sound Academy, Thursday, December 18. Rating: NN
Toward the end of her first headlining set in Toronto, Jhene Aiko explained that shes all about imperfection. The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter is a life-long performer, having embarked on a music career as a teenager. Now 26, she has the big-label pop marketing machine behind her, somewhat inexplicably: her bland R&B has hints of neo-soul, lite-funk and rock the operative word being lite.
She appeared onstage in a flowy flannel robe to a raucous pop star reception, planted herself on a pile of pillows in a meditation pose in front of her five-piece band and launched into Limbo Limbo Limbo, off her debut solo album, Souled Out. During the ensuing 90-minutes she twirled around, shared personal stories and gave pep talks about staying positive. But the show never reached a boil.
Aikos vibe is essentially a more glamorous version of a college campus coffee shop stoner, but unfortunately the only thing her music is high on is mediocrity. And yet the young crowd went wild if she so much as skipped across the stage.
Her band locked into a groove early on but demonstrated little ambition or finesse in bringing the songs to life. Melodies blended into one another as seamlessly as the musical transitions, and Aikos voice has a plaintive, texture-less quality that perked up only when she rapped.
Even less concerned with pop star perfection was opener SZA (aka Solana Rowe), the lone female artist signed to Kendrick Lamars Top Dawg Entertainment label. The 24-year-old singer/songwriters live show left a much stronger impression than this years Z album, which is heavy on whispery atmospherics and idiosyncratic electronics.
From the moment she appeared in low-riding jeans whipping her massive mane of hair around, it was clear there would be nothing subtle about this show. She belted out runs, punched the air, hurled herself around the stage and dropped to the floor to dance as the DJ slipped in beats from O.T. Genasiss club hit Coco and A Tribe Called Quests Sucka Nigga. At one point she had to pause to take a whiff from her inhaler.
SZAs performance was unapologetically raw, to the point that it at first seemed like the histrionics might be overkill. But the approach was ultimately a winning one. A four-piece band added muscle to her slinky grooves, but SZAs enthusiasm and full-bodied attitude gave the set its life.
