They look and sound like city angels – tough, soulful and wise. Whether re-imagining traditional gospel or trying out new songs that sound just as timeless, Ollabelle taps into our collective unconscious from a dimly-remembered past where shared humanity conquers despair. Along with the songs, its tools are exquisite ensemble singing and layers of dazzling musicianship. Back from a tour promoting the band’s latest, Riverside Battle Songs, the quintet soothed souls at the Lower East Side bar where it first played together in the months after 9/11. With 18 heartfelt songs in two sets, Ollabelle locked its congregation into a trance-like, healing groove.
Underlying it all were Tony Leone’s transporting rhythms. The songs often began like a gathering storm, the darkly Biblical-looking drummer laying down an exotic groove under the rumble of voices preparing to explode with a joyful noise. The five musicians rang like a full choir on “John The Revelator,” hand claps punctuating eerie notes from Byron Isaac’s homemade double-necked lap guitar/bass. The soulful young bass player’s invention was also the perfect accompaniment to guitarist Fiona McBain’s wistful vocals on “Everything is Broken.” With her ethereal beauty and sensible shoes, McBain personified the song’s dreamy loveliness, rooted in simple dignity. A Botticelli in jeans, Amy Helm has a voice made for the gospel message. It can rejoice, weep and shout, but with an underlying stillness. Her “Troubles of The World” was both defiant and reconciled.
Other first set highlights: Helm’s jazzy and sensual “See Line Woman,” Patscha’s melancholy “Blue Northern Lights,” Leone’s earthy vocal on his song “Reach For Love” and a dazzling, prayerful “Riverside,” Ollabelle’s anti-war signature. “Ain’t No More Cane,” a song Helm’s father Levon used to sing with The Band, showcased the band’s country harmonies and a joyous guitar solo by Oren Bloedow from the band Elysian Fields.
The fiery second set included a powerful “Get Back Temptation,” wryly dedicated to Jack Abramoff, McBain’s sweet testimony, “Elijah Rock,” and a crowd favorite, Isaacs’ achingly lovely “Heaven’s Pearls.” Patscha’s “Fall Back” featured one of many keyboard tours de force. It’s hard to say enough about the artistry of this profoundly-intelligent musician who can nail jaw-dropping New Orleans piano with one hand and carnival organ behind his back with the other. A bluesy “Wayfaring Stranger” and a shouting, clapping audience-participation rave-up, “Before This Time,” sent the faithful back into the cold New York City night on a spiritual high.