Ben Sollee @ The 400 Bar, Minneapolis 11/18/08

It's Not Impossible

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Ben Sollee sings like an angel.  A small, winsome angel in a JCrew pullover.  It’s not easy keeping pure of thought, considering this angel plays the cello with the gusto of a wayward prep school dropout on the cusp of a musical revelation (classically trained but has a secret naughty stash of Muddy Waters albums).  Part blue-eyed soul, part nu-folk, with a little easy-on-the-ears Americana thrown in, Sollee has tapped into the same ripe patch that birthed brother angels Andrew Bird and M. Ward.  While he may not have quite the bearded following as Bird, it seems that Sollee has found a comfortable niche half-way between ‘quirky elegance’ and ‘coffee shop troubadour.’  His debut album, Learning to Bend, is very nice, but it feels pointless to praise a musician for his studio work when it’s obvious he’s meant to be heard in real life, in a real dirty club, really intimate and really real, flaws and all.

Ben and his cello played a real, flaw-filled, beautiful show at the 400 Bar last Tuesday.  The crowd was respectful and hushed, which made the few minutes between songs almost unbearably polite (even the cranks that linger close to the bar were strangely mute).  Perhaps everyone was thinking the same thing:  who is this tiny person?  I know what I was thinking:  who’d a thought the cello could be sexy?  (I won’t even bring up the implications of straddling a large, wooden apparatus.)  I’m sure most of us attribute the cello to plain Asian girls in loose-fitting chinos and bobby socks.  Besides Yo-Yo Ma, I can’t even name a professional cellist (and let’s be honest, while ridiculously talented, Yo-Yo Ma doesn’t exactly inspire tingling loins).  But watching Sollee bow and strum and pluck at his instrument was…inspiring, to say the least.  I could easily come up with at least a dozen more sly synonyms for ‘instrument’ (‘sleek music-maker,’ ‘big, strong love tool’) but I won’t.  I already feel slightly creepy for talking so frank about an NPR-revered musician (“Top 10 Great Unknown Artists of 2007”).  Nonetheless, these things must be said and the show must go on.

Ben Sollee - A Change is Gonna Come

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For me, one of the highlights of Sollee’s show was his interpretation of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.”  This song has been stuck in my head for, literally, the last year, ever since it became the unofficial mantra for GObama 08.  It was ballsy of Sollee to take such a classic political anthem and change the lyrics, but his voice suits the style, and so I feel OK about his creative bastardization (normally I would hate him for it, on principle).  Other performance highlights:  a short cover of “Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley); Sollee’s preface to “Bury Me with My Car,” in which he confused us simpletons with his book smarts; A solo rendition of “Only a Song” (originally recorded with Jim James of My Morning Jacket); and the encore fake-out “fake out” (you know, when a musician/band starts to leave the stage and then makes a comment like, “I never understood the point of leaving the stage”)—Sollee said something similar but I didn’t roll my eyes like I usually do when a musician tries to be “witty,” therefore, it must be love. 

Ben Sollee and his big, strong love tool are currently on tour.  For more information, visit his official website at www.bensollee.com or his Myspace at www.myspace.com/bensollee.

As a side note, I’d briefly like to mention Kentucky artist, Phillip March Jones, whose work is being featured during Sollee’s tour (t-shirts, stage set).  Jones is the first artist that Sollee’s collaborated with, but hopefully not the last (Sollee talked a bit about his desire to continue building partnerships with new visual artists).  The stage backdrop will be auctioned off for charity at the end of the tour.  Please check out:  www.phillipmarchjones.com.