Live: Bell @ Troubadour, 3.14.09

All photos by David Greenwald

Bluntly, Bell is a charming but second-rate Bjork; worse, she seems to have arrived to the party just in time for Medulla. Frontwoman Olga Bell unleashed the same volcanic vowel affectations as her Icelandic counterpart in her Troubadour show opening for Asobi Seksu, singing over chilly electro-analog hybrid beats that douse her humanity in metalic cool. And you may have noticed she’s a bit pretty. There’s a built-in market for this sort of thing no matter the quality, but there’s a spark to Bell that many of her coffee shop contemporaries lack — the best part of watching the singer play the Troubadour was her energy and excitement at simply being in the legendary venue. With an ingenue’s awe, she kept remarking on how cool it was to be in L.A. (and in her presumable interior monologue, not have the audience fold their arms in unimpressed solidarity). If she can deliver more of that sunshine down to her dystopian songs, she may get something new growing yet. As ush, click any photo to open the hi-res gallery and find ’em after the jump.

***

Click below for more Concert Photos and live reviews.

Get the newsletter