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Neo-soul duo Floetry delivers groundbreaking show
12/01/2005 6:10 PM, Reuters
It might take another
British Invasion to right the floundering neo-soul movement in
America. If that is the case, then the dynamic duo of Londoners
Marsha Ambrosius (aka the Songstress) and Natalie Stewart (aka
the Floacist) is a perfect choice to point the genre in a
clearer direction.
Floetry's hour-plus set Wednesday at the Roxy blended
insightful lyrics, solid stage presence, a tight band and
intricate vocal weavings to satisfy their fawning audience.
Riding the recent release of their third album, "Flo'Ology,"
and with six Grammy nominations for their first two albums, the
concert sold out quickly.
Floetry's music flirts with the spoken-word genre, which
had its heyday in the late 1960s and peaked in the '70s with
the likes of Nikki Giovanni, the Last Poets and Gil
Scott-Heron. More recently, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Angie Stone and Musiq paved the way for Floetry's seemingly
effortless stream-of-consciousness lyricism. However, Floetry
has the added weapon of Ambrosius' astounding vocal range and
Stewart's painterly and contrapuntal verbiage.
Floetry broke their set into three phases. The first
featured primarily new songs, jump-starting with the pulsating
"Blessed to Have" and including sprinklings of the old ("Ms.
Stress") with the new (the operatic "I'll Die" and "Lay Down")
The second phase focused on Floetry's first album,
"Floetic." Their first major hit, "Say Yes," was given an
extended presentation, while the moody and sexy "Getting Late"
questioned the direction of a one-night stand into, maybe, a
few more.
The third phase offered a peek into Floetry's influences,
as well as the group's first taste of celebrity -- the
Ambrosius-penned "Butterflies," made famous by Michael Jackson
on his woefully underappreciated "Invincible" album. Heartfelt
and loving tributes to their precursors included Rufus' "Sweet
Thing" and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's "The
Message." "Supa Star," Floetry's new single, launched the
concert into full party mode with a dance-off between Ambrosius
and Stewart (who won with a sensuous move that elicited howls
and cheers from the predominantly female audience).
Not enough can be said about Ambrosius, whose elastic voice
is a glorious instrument that, literally, combines the scat
library of Ella Fitzgerald with the gospel/R&B of Aretha Franklin and the exploratory verve of Rachell Ferrell. It is a
guiding light in the stagnant, yet hugely promising, neo-soul
movement.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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