Soulful singer Kendra Morris returns to San Francisco for Noise Pop
Talented soul siren Kendra Morris returns to the Bay Area Saturday night to headline the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco as part of the Noise Pop Festival.
Originally from St. Petersburgh, Florida, and raised by parents who were both musicians, Morris made a brief stab at higher education but found herself dropping out of college to focus on songwriting. After self-releasing a pair of EPs, she came to wider public attention as a competitor on the Fuse TV reality show Redemption Song in 2008. While she voluntarily left the show by the fourth episode, Morris was already well along on her path to pursue music professionally.
She would relocate to New York City, eventually connecting with like-minded musicians who were drawing equally from '70s vintage rock and soul sounds and signing a deal with taste-making label Wax Poetics (the imprint of the well-established soul/jazz/hip-hop music quarterly of the same name). Her first single "Concrete Waves" and subsequent debut album Banshee that was released in 2012 featured the singer collaborating with guitarist/producer Jeremy Page on her languid, cinematic originals, but Morris also got plenty of attention for a series of cover tunes posted on the Internet leading up to the album's release.
The response to her jazzy takes on the Pink Floyd classic "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" (surprisingly recast as a smoldering soul ballad) in particular further raised her profile and led the singer to assemble a full album of covers entitled Mockingbird in 2013. The diverse collection found Morris ably interpreting everything from '60s soul and pop (the Charmels' "As Long As I Have You" and Burt Bachrach's "Walk on By") to modern alternative rock (Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" and Radiohead's "Karma Police").
Since then, the singer has continued to explore a soulful style of songwriting that has earned her comparisons to the late Amy Winehouse and contemporary soul stylists like Alice Russell and Portishead's Beth Gibbons. In 2016, Morris issued the six-song EP Babble that included the fuzzed-out, simmering psychedelic torch songs "Wizards Float" and "Woman" that garnered more raves. Morris has also expanded her artistic palette into the visual realm, exploring filmmaking and animation with her videos. She has since released a few singles and collaborated with hip-hop supergroup Czarface, but it wasn't until Colemine subsidiary Karma Chief put out her third full-length effort Nine Lives in 2022 (as well as an expanded version of Babble including extra songs) that fans had a new music from Morris to dig into.
Teamed once again with longtime production and songwriting partner Page, the singer sends her remarkable voice soaring over lush string arrangements on simmering, noirish tunes like "This Life," lead single "Penny Pincher" and the soul/psych title track. Morris has paid a few visits to the Bay Area in recent years supporting local favorites (and Colemine artists) Monophonics at the Independent and headlining her own show at the same venue in May. She also released another new album last year with a new production partner in Torbitt Schwartz (aka Little Shalimar). I Am What I'm Waiting For finds the singer exploring new sonic textures and musical modes, touching on '60s girl-group pop, dub-tinged electronica and '80s funk instead of her usual psychedelic soul torch songs while also highlighting her guitar playing. For this Noise Pop show at the Bottom of the Hill Saturday, Morris is joined by Bay Area R&B musician Elbows (aka Max Schieble), songwriter Dani Satin and the Velvet, indie-soul singer August Lee Stevens and renowned Bay Area DJ and producer Platurn (Oakland Faders, 45 Sessions).
Kendra Morris with Elbows, Dani Satin and the Velvet, August Lee Stevens and DJ Platurn
Saturday, March 2, 7:30 p.m. $18-$20
The Bottom of the Hill
