There wasn’t a better way of celebrating the birthday of Telliskivi Creative City than the performance of Lovell sisters. They kicked off Jazzkaar on Friday night. Their peculiar combination of rock, bluegrass, folk and jazz tunes amazed the spectators at Vaba Lava.
The sisters waded in the audience with a perfect combination of good looks, heart rendering voice with a strong character, fusion of styles and charismatic talks in between.
As part of their own set list, Rebecca Lovell introduced the track Mad As A Hatter by saying that the song was dedicated to their mad grandfather: “He wasn’t crazy in a nice, fun and sweet way, he was schizophrenic. Schizophrenia skips one generation.” They drove everybody crazy with a satiric smile on their faces. Not only madness but charisma too seems to be running in their veins. Megan Lovell was able to make Estonians laugh by announcing the next song called Stubborn Love like this: “People ask us if we fight. I answer them: when you have a sibling, imagine traveling with them”.
One of the highlights of the show was the fascinating guitar harmonies in the song Sugar High which goes perfectly with the range of Megan’s deep voice. Some of their lyrics were tuned by the audience as well, like with the theme Don’t.
The sisters are not only great in composing, they can also bring some extra power to diverse cover songs, for example Wade In The Water. In my opinion, the version is better and fresher than the original one by Ramsey Lewis Trio. Also some well-known songs such as Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) or Black Betty were sung by the crowd at the same time.
By the time the band reached its final song, people were already dancing, jumping, beating the ground and singing as there were no tomorrow, asking for more. “Don’t go tomorrow, stay here!” someone shouted from the dark room when they said that they were leaving next day to Helsinki and Oslo before their Europe tour ends.
All in all, the two sister sharing complicity, filling the stage of powerful melodies, the peculiar way of Megan playing the slide guitar, showing how to be talented and not conventional. Rebecca, the versatile string player, no difference if it’s a mandolin, an acoustic guitar or an electric one… She knows how to rock, accompanying the instruments with her stunning voice. Marlon Patton who can beat drums and cords in the bass at the same time. There is no doubt that people enjoyed this birthday celebration by pure American sound.
Larkin Poe
April 17th of 2015, Vaba Lava
Rebecca Lovell – Vocal, Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar and Mandolin
Megan Lovell – Vocal, Slide guitar
Marlon Patton – Drums and bass pedals