You know me...if you're a singer / songwriter there's like a 98% chance I'm not going to like you. The sound of moany vocals and acoustic guitars are like nails on a chalk board to me. But there are exceptions to every rule and I'm proud to report that Rebekah Higgs is one of those exceptions. With a voice that's similar to fellow Canadian, Feist, Higgs has just enough quirk and tweeness in her voice to make you want to hug her instead of run away from her. Her appropriately named album Odd Fellowship lives up to it's name thanks to off centered songs and a strange pop sensibility.
Odd Fellowship might have been written by a singer / songwriter, but it's anything but a singer / songwriter album. Sounding rich in sound and packed with great ideas, the album takes the idea of a singer / songwriter and tosses it out a window. This is a big album with all kinds of instruments, ideas, vocal tricks, and hooks and it's those things that keep you listening. Odd Fellowship will make you wonder if Rebekah isn't a long lost sister of Feist because both vocalists have that oddly keyed vocal style that seems a bit off but is so endearing. Rebekah's voice much like Odd Fellowship is so ridiculously charming and adorable, that you can't help but like her and her work.
Sure there are intimate moments throughout the record, and she does embrace her inner singer / songwriter, but even during these moments she's got enough of a pop sensibility about her to not let the ballad get the best of her. With hand claps, horns, electric guitars, reverb, the sound of ghosts, and all sorts of sticky sweet choruses, Rebekah Higgs has taken her songs and her band off the beaten path and blazed her own trail. I thoroughly enjoyed Odd Fellowship's fun take on a tired genre and Rebekah Higgs has proven herself to be a quirky talent worth paying attention to.
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