If there was any love lost between Edwards and the Godfrey brothers during their separation, you wouldn’t know it by watching the band play Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom this past Thursday. The trio (plus accompanying keyboardist, DJ, and drummer) were in infectiously high spirits with a lot of hugging, teasing, and general merriment. Though I had personally been a fan of Morcheeba for a few years, I had never seen them live before and was thoroughly impressed by the band’s comfort with one another and level of engagement with the audience.

Being that Morcheeba specializes in dreamy, floaty trip-hop songs as well as joyous, rocking tunes, the audience was an eclectic mix of hippies, pop fans and hipsters, from all ages and walks of life. There was a wonderfully positive vibe to the crowd, egged on by copious amounts of marijuana smoke that hung in the air (after all it was Vancouver, and Morcheeba’s name does pertain to cannabis). But this didn’t mean the concertgoers were dead on their feet. Edwards did a commendable job in keeping everyone involved and hanging on her every (crystal clear) note. Some songs like the opener “The Sea” and “Part of the Process” were turned into giant singalongs where it wouldn’t have seemed out of place if everyone put their arms around each and swayed back in forth (if it was a movie, that totally would have happened).

The song “Beat of the Drum” was especially moving, with Edwards coaxing the crowd to sing during the chorus. With her hand to her ear, she’d yell “Louder!” and everyone struggled to match the height of enthusiasm she was putting out there. She was giving it her all, her magnificent pipes just belting out across the venue over and over again, to the point where people had tears in their eyes. Once the song was over, the crowd erupted into applause, and Edwards herself was so overwhelmed, she had to take some of her “medicine” — which was whiskey, by the way.

Aside from having the most gorgeous live voice I’ve heard in a long time and the fact that she just oozes natural charm and charisma, Edwards looked absolutely gorgeous. Her delicate frame was propped up on dizzying wedges and swathed in a tartan-like dress, which she told the audience she had actually made herself and wore in honor of the local Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. Apparently Morcheeba are huge fans of the prominent bagpipers. Who knew?

Although the band rolled out plenty of new material, which the crowd did enjoy, Morcheeba also dusted off old classics like “Trigger Hippy”, “Otherwise”, and “Slowdown”. With “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day” wrapping it all up, the crowd stormed the stage in a blissed-out, soulful celebration with the band. As far as concerts go, you couldn’t have found a more beautiful and fitting way to end the night.

Setlist:
The Sea
Friction
Otherwise
Never an Easy Way
Even Though
Coming into Los Angeles
Part of the Process
Blood Like Lemonade
Slow Down
Crimson
Trigger Hippy
Beat of the Drum
Blindfold
Be Yourself
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day
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Gallery by Karina Halle

English trip-hop/alternative rockers Morcheeba’s sixth and newest effort, Dive Deep, feels just like that, a jam in outer space.  Take the overall mood of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” borrow some pages from master music guru Damon Albarn and put together some incredible guest vocalists and you have yourself a pretty awesome album.  All of the songs are different, yet stitched together like musical squares on a quilt of sound.

The album opens with the single, “Enjoy The Ride” with Judie Tzuke on lead vocals and from the first five seconds, it has that hypnotic hook that’ll bury itself into eardrums faster than an earthworm into wet soil.  The overall sound of Dive Deep is very well produced.  Guest vocalists range from Korean-American rapper Cool Calm Pete, Norwegian singer/songwriter Thomas Dybdahl, up-and-coming French singer Manda and as previously mentioned before English singer Judie Tzuke.

The next few songs, “Riverbed”, “Thumbnails”, “Run Honey Run” and “Gained The World” all have different musical textures, but blend together well.  They have that rare quality in which they’re great and adaptable to many contrasting environments, whether it be running a 10k or sitting in the biggest LA-Z-Boy imaginable.

The highlight of this album definitely has to be “Blue Chair” with Judie Tzuke.  Her vocals are not only mind-blowing, but the somber melodies behind her strong vocals really paint a wonderful mood, even if the tone seems to represent a sense of loss.  The groups founders Paul & Ross Godfrey have done a nice job with their musical compositions as well as choosing a wide variety of guest vocalists.  This album is definitely one of these albums that’s big in the UK but not in the USA.  Either way, this album has some killer material that should not be overlooked.  MJ would be proud.

Order via [Amazon]

Check out:
“Enjoy the Ride”
“Blue Chair”

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