The Washington Post - 23.08.2019

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THE WASHINGTON POST

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019

Queen, singing harmonies with a

pair of singing partners and lay-

ering them until there were as

many as 30 tracks of background

vocals on a single song. “I know

we’re not the ‘Queen sound,’ ” she

admits, “[but] I wanted it to be

really big.”

[email protected]

the United States), Dawson’s rich,

soulful vocals shine over produc-

tions that are at times funky,

effervescent or gentle. The band’s

debut album, “Mister Above,”

showcases the band’s anything-

goes sound.

She even borrowed a technique

from one of those influences,

a diet of the Beatles, along with

Queen, Yes and the Beach Boys.

Those titans of pop and rock have

influenced her approach to music

making.

Alongside her bandmates in

Del Florida (a new incarnation,

since her Liverpudlian band-

mates didn’t make the trip back to

long-running solo career, but has

refused to keep the songs as static

memories. In 2010, he released

“Symphonicities,” an album that

attempted to revitalize old favor-

ites, and he did the same thing

again this year with “My Songs” —

an album that includes “Message

in a Bottle.” Monday, Tuesday

and Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Wolf

Trap. Sold out.

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Sting

A song is like a message in a

bottle: a desperate dispatch

thrown into unforgiving seas,

awaiting a curious passerby. But

as soon as the bottle is opened,

the message inside starts to oxi-

dize and change. No one knows

this better than Sting, who wrote

the Police’s “Message in a Bottle”

40 years ago. He’s continued play-

ing songs like that across his

revisits Motown and Stax (“Stay

High”) and gets Funkadelic (“His-

tory Repeats”) as she forges a new

path alongside Shakes bassist Zac

Cockrell, drummer Nate Smith

and jazz boundary breaker Rob-

ert Glasper. Friday and Saturday

at 8 p.m. at 9:30 Club. $55.

Flatbush Zombies

True to their name, Flatbush

Zombies sound like the reanimat-

ed, after-dark versions of rappers

that prospered in their Brooklyn

hood during the days of what’s

known as rap’s Golden Age. The

trio — made up of rappers

Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice and

Erick Arc Elliott (who also pro-

duces their beats) — is not alone;

there are a handful of rap crews in

New York, including Joey

Badass’s Pro Era collective and

the duo the Underachievers, that

are also focused on dense lyricism

and denser beats. Both groups

have linked with the Zombies to

form Beast Coast, bringing New

York’s rap revivalists all under

one umbrella and on one stage.

Sunday at 7 p.m. at MECU Pavil-

ion (Baltimore). $35.50-$51.

to step out on her own to tell her

story. “I’m pretty candid about

myself and who I am and what I

believe,” she said in a news re-

lease, “which is why I needed to

do it on my own.” Due in Septem-

ber, Howard’s solo album “Jaime”

BY CHRIS KELLY

Farruko

Perhaps no one has had a bet-

ter vantage point for the recent

crossover of Latin and Caribbean

music into the worldwide main-

stream than Farruko. The 28-

year-old Puerto Rican singer-

songwriter-rapper broke through

at the top of the decade, with a

pliable voice and a versatile ear

that allows him to straddle a wide

range of styles, from reggae and

reggaeton to dance hall and Latin

trap. He has collaborated with

veterans Daddy Yankee and Sean

Paul as well as such new stars as

Bad Bunny and J Balvin, and his

latest team-up, with Pedro Capó

for the beach-ready “Calma,” is

his biggest hit yet. Friday at 8

p.m. at Wolf Trap. $40-$150.

Brittany Howard

As the frontwoman of roots

rockers Alabama Shakes, Brittany

Howard has wowed audiences

with her raw, powerhouse vocals

and riff-ready guitar playing. But

as she turned 30, Howard wanted

BY CHRIS KELLY

L

eela Dawson was 4 years

old when she first wanted

piano lessons, but there

was one problem: The

teacher told her parents that she

had to learn the alphabet before

she could be taught. Undaunted,

the young Dawson went home

and learned her ABCs that week.

She started writing songs at 10

and taught herself guitar at 13,

but when she wanted to form a

band, she hit another wall: “I

asked everybody if they wanted to

be in a band, but nobody would,

because I was a girl, because I

wasn’t cool enough,” Dawson re-

members.

That’s not a problem for the

singer-songwriter these days. The

25-year-old D.C. native fronts Del

Florida, which she first formed in

England while attending the Liv-

erpool Institute for Performing

Arts, a music business school

founded by Paul McCartney.

Like many people — musicians

or not — the connection to Macca

is bone-deep. Instead of contem-

porary music, Dawson grew up on

Music

Soul from Across the pond

DAVID LEBOW

DEL FLORIDA

Show: Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at

DC9, 1940 Ninth St. NW. $15.

PHOTO BY KYLE GUSTAFSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

“I’m pretty candid about myself and who I am and what I believe,”

Brittany Howard said of her solo album, which drops in September.

4 more concerts to catch

JASON KOERNER/GETTY IMAGES

Farruko broke through earlier

this decade with a pliable voice

and a versatile ear that lets him

tackle a wide range of styles.

Leela Dawson, second from

left, started the band Del

Florida while attending the

Liverpool Institute for

Performing Arts. Her British

bandmates didn’t make the trip,

but the band’s songs and

production remain, at times,

funky, effervescent or gentle.