Monday Michiru Live @SOB'S March 4, 2007

cazalyst

Having never seen or really listed to Monday Michiru over the years, it was fascinating to see what has made this R&B artist tic on the edges of notoriety for some 20 years. One clue is the audience, probably 75% Asian (mostly Japanese) as the half Japanese Michiru does not apparently have a record deal in the states but does have one in Japan.

First impression: Monday Michiru is beautiful, very beautiful. That certainly helps. She is tall, slender, and stylistically hip in her layered gold wrap and long furry Eskimo boots. She speaks to her audience in fluent Japanese and English though she sang mostly in English.

Second impression: Her music is truly unique and exciting. Complex, yet coherent. Rhythmic and funky, but with a fusion jazz influence as a constant presence. Always challenging your expectations but coming home in an immensely satisfying way.

Third impression: HER BAND ROCKS! Playing her arrangements cannot be for the faint hearted but a quartet made up of a standup bass player, drummer, Flugal Horn player (her husband) and a piano player named George Culligan (Fender Rhodes exclusively) tear effortlessly through this music with a groove that puts holes in the pocket! In particular her keyboard player played with a controlled abandon that was both exciting and almost scary for its intensity. Culligan’s rhythmic sense was so advanced he could only be in a self induced hypnotic state to play so transparently and the rest of the band was right there on the smallest of breaks.

Fourth impression: At some point I began to realize that not all the dissonance inherent in this music was perhaps planned. As I zoomed in on this I realized that some of it came from her vocals. Michiru has a pleasing but somewhat thin voice, and one that often has intonation problems during leaps and vocal riffing. (Though I suspect that these technical deficiencies are after 20 albums, considered sylistic trademarks by her fans) She has the trouble spots of a girl who perhaps aspired to the sound of the great R&B vocalists, but doesn’t have the church in her. Over the course of the evening I found myself more often than not, looking forward to the solo breaks on certain songs. On other songs she was pleasant and even mildly compelling.

Pet Peeve: Michiru read her lyrics from a music stand for many of her songs. In particular one of her most famous club ditties involves a very long spoken lyric. By way of apology she produced a small novel for the audience and proceeded to bury her head in the pages for almost the entire song. This coupled with the fact that the lyric was spoken, not rapped, hard to understand, and delivered in a mostly monotone fashion, really made it the lowlight of the show. I’ll say this once very clearly: READING YOUR LYRICS ON STAGE SHOWS A DISRESPECT FOR YOUR AUDIENCE. No excuses. Spend the time to learn your own music or don’t perform it.

And therein is the classified add: "Beautiful Japanese/American woman, can sing a little, writes exciting but complex (ie. Not mainstream) Jazz Fusion/R&B originals, seeks ticket to artist A-list". That ticket may prove to be elusive, but it may be that her current niche is the best balance between her unique, exciting music, and her limitations as a performer.