The British singer who calls herself Ebony Bones put on quite a show Saturday night (Feb. 6) at Green Dolphin Street … after a seemingly interminable series of DJ sets and opening bands. I’m not much into the dance club scene, so that last hour of barely distinguishable electronic beats pounding into my head wore a little thin, but then Ebony Bones and her band finally take the stage around 2:15 a.m. She turned out to be worth the wait.
In an Ebony Bones press release, she describes herself as follows: “I am Cleopatra reincarnated, in search of KFC.” I’m not even sure what the means, but that conveys something of the spirit of how she dresses and her goofy, bouncy stage presence. Her whole band was decked out in quasi-African or kitschy ancient Egyptian style outfits. And for the first half of the show, Ebony Bones was in a dress with the world’s biggest shoulder pads… or collars… or something jutting out, anyway. Her backup singers wore face makeup that seemed like a satire of the way “savages” used to be portrayed, and they clinked spoons against whiskey bottles for percussive effect.
Ebony Bones is one of those musical dynamos who barely ever stops moving during the course of a concert, and she was a wonder to behold. Her songs sounded good, too, the sort of electronic dance music with just enough quirks and smart touches to stand out above most mainstream pop. The set included cool covers of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” and the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” And then, around 3 a.m., a long night of music at Green Dolphin Street came to an end at last.
www.myspace.com/ebonybones
The only opening act that won me over was the R&B duo He Say She Say. Their soulful songs sounded like they have some good potential. Now they just need to put out a record. (They mentioned during their set that they don’t have any record out, due to “technical difficulties.” Whatever those difficulties, He Say She Say should overcome them.)