Becca Stevens is a girl from North Carolina who wanted to be a zookeeper but ended up being a singer and multi-instrumentalist. At Jazzkaar, she performed her solo acoustic show as part of the European tour. Despite having her guitar lost on the way and being reunited with it only in the last moment, she came on stage full of energy and with a positive attitude.
She started by tapping a rhythm on her guitar, then singing and playing. Her guitars and ukuleles created rich saturated melodies, her voice was soft and tender and her smile was charming and sweet. She sounded like a slightly less alien version of Björk: a combination of Björk vocals with indie style acoustic guitar and twists of jazz, pop and folk. Becca was pure and naïve in a cute childish way, completely blending with the music and enjoying it all. Becca’s music can best be described by a line from her own song: “Music that plays in my heart”.
The last part of the show turned interactive. She quickly taught the audience to sing a line from a Smith’s song. At her command the whole crowd started singing: “There is a light that never goes out”. Needless to say, this had an amazing effect done with the singing nation. The audience sounded like a perfectly coordinated choir, which allowed Becca to go into a voice jam. For this and other reasons Becca repeatedly said how much she likes Estonians and how much she enjoyed her performances in Pärnu and Tallinn.
After the last song Becca was insistently called back on stage for an encore. She played a cover of Joni Mitchell. As she was singing Didn’t It Feel Good you could tell what the audience was thinking: it definitely did.
Check the pictures of the concert here.
April 27th, 7:30 pm at Punane Maja
Becca Stevens (USA) – vocal, guitar