Soul Nourishing

Natsukashii Soul. Photo by Rei Mastrogiovanni.

On Dec. 13 at The Hybrid Gallery, Eugene’s Natsukashii Soul plays selections from Silvereen, the pop, jazz and soul quintet’s debut album, set to be released the same day as their performance and will be available on Bandcamp and vinyl LP. Recorded by Randy Brewer at Eugene’s Bespoke Recording studio, Silvereen features six originals honed on stages in Eugene and Portland over the past several years, as well as a jazzy cover of “Sakura,” a traditional Japanese folk song. With keyboards, guitar, bass, trumpet, and strong neo-soul vocals from Autumn Rose, Natsukashii Soul’s music often evolves from improvisational jam sessions, before Rose adds lyrics and vocal melody, sung in a sensual alto recalling Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse. Vince Panero layers keyboards and guitar, and Sam Hayward keeps time on percussion. “We have a lot of energy in our live performance,” trumpeter Frank Visconti describes. So to capture that, rather than tracking the songs individually, one at a time, “we played all the songs together,” with a few elements added later. Even still, each song “was pretty much recorded in one take,” Visconti says. With an eye on contemporary hip hop and pop R&B, Rose says she draws her words from her life. “We always dreamed that we’d make an album one day,” Rose says, calling the opportunity to record at Bespoke and release the records on vinyl “kismet.” The studio experience helped Natsukashii Soul realize “how much power we have,” she says.

Natsukashii Soul celebrates Silvereen 7:30 pm Saturday, Dec. 13, at The Hybrid Gallery, 941 West 3rd Avenue. Tickets are $10. The show is all ages.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

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