Music review: Sylvan Esso at the Granada

Amelia Meath is nothing if not a trooper.

The vocal half of the North Carolina duo Sylvan Esso told the excited, capacity crowd at the Granada Theater Tuesday night that she hadn’t been feeling well. That’s when her other half, producer/electronics wiz Nick Sanborn, said they didn’t want to cancel the performance, a declaration that earned hearty applause.

Meath’s mention of her illness was the only real element of surprise in the brief, 45-minute, no-encore set. As it stood, Meath and Sanborn -- the only figures on stage -- turned in a solid, efficient performance that was mostly a run-through of their self-titled debut album that didn’t really add to it.

At their best, with Meath’s supple vocals layered over Sanborn’s stark beats, Sylvan Esso recall the ‘80s/90s glory period of soulful, jazz-shaded female vocals meshed with stripped-down electronic sounds designed by guys who rarely uttered a word. Think early Eurythmics, Portishead, Morcheeba, Sneaker Pimps, Hooverphonic, and Everything But the Girl with a touch of Bjork thrown in for good measure.

Meath, who first came to attention through her day job with the more folk-leaning group Mountain Man, has a powerful and distinctive voice that was put to good use Tuesday on such tracks as Could I Be, Wolf, and especially the slyly seductive and groovalicious alt-radio hit Coffee, Sylvan Esso’s best track, which had the crowd singing along fervently.

In a live setting, the songs could have been even better if they’d been expanded upon and allowed to flow in different directions. Instead, Meath and Sanborn basically delivered what everyone already knew.

And then everyone got home in time to watch Jimmy Fallon.

This story was originally published March 24, 2015 at 11:38 PM with the headline "Music review: Sylvan Esso at the Granada."