COURTESY OF SOULSTICE
Gina Rene, front, and Mei-Lwvn Yee, right, perform today. Other members pictured are Gabriel Rene, left, and Andy Caldwell.
Call it a chance occurrence, but when Gina Rene and Mei-Lwun Yee take the stage tonight as a streamlined version of electronic soul-fusion sensation Soulstice, their performance will coincide with the official emergence of summer; the summer solstice, if you like. Potent mélange
By Shawn "Speedy" Lopes
slopes@starbulletin.comSome things are just meant to be, says Gina, whose ascending star seems destined for greater heights as vocalist for the acclaimed quartet. Already drawing favorable comparisons to such divergent acts as Portishead, Sade, Everything but the Girl and Massive Attack, Soulstice appears to be forging an entirely new musical subgenre through uncommon chemistry and boundless imaginations.
"We all grew up together in Santa Cruz, moved to San Francisco and found that we were all interested in the same kinds of music," remembers the velvet-voiced songbird, speaking of band-mates Mei-Lwun, Andy Caldwell and brother Gabriel Rene. "We came together in '96 and started experimenting with a lot of down-tempo stuff because, at the time, trip-hop was really big."
While performing around local clubs with Soulstice, Gina worked at a coffee shop, a smoothie bar and a clothing store patronized by the city's biggest snobs. "After I realized I was supposed to live off commission, I was like, 'I gotta do my singing,'" she recalls. "We all pretty much at this point do music, and I'm never going to go back to a day job."
Soulstice's dynamic mélange of hip-hop, jazz, house and soul caught the attention of visionary electronic label Om Records, which released their debut, "Illusion," in 2001. The album was succeeded by the deejay-friendly "Mixed Illusions" that same year, and the group soon began experimenting with an amorphous lineup by grouping Gina with a combination of band-mates for live dates.
With special guest Drumfire Gina Rene and Mei-Lwun Yee of Soulstice
Where: W Honolulu Hotel, 2885 Kalakaua Ave.
When: 10 p.m. today
Admission: $15, 21 and over
Call: 922-3734
"That's a big part of what Soulstice is. I'm not just a singer who sings stuff that other people write," she attests. "We're all part of the process." While Gina's preferred abbreviation of Soulstice with Mei-Lwun backing her on turntables frees Andy and Gabriel to pursue outside projects, the ever-evolving combo is very much a cohesive unit. "Soulstice is the priority at this point," she explains. "The show we're doing is going to show everyone where we're at right now. The music, the energy and chemistry has gotten so good."
While much of their sound can be attributed to eclecticism and a natural rapport, some of it may be due to environment and genetics. "Me and Gabe have this really strong ear for jazz because we heard it a lot growing up, and it's probably just in our genes," explains Gina, who once sang in a jazz choir and whose grandfather, Leon Rene, was an accomplished musician and record label magnate who penned such pop staples as "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" and "Rockin' Robin," under the name Jimmy Thomas.
Soulstice's enchanting cover of the 1946 Jack Lawrence-Walter Gross ballad "Tenderly" exhibits an aptitude for fusion by blending silky bossa nova grooves with a stirring drum 'n bass shuffle.
To put a label on their sound, however, is ultimately futile, as Gina discovered while trying to describe Soulstice's latest material. "Really, our music just started going to this whole new place, and we're just following it," she says. "It's just happening. Our strength is that we have so many different styles, and we figured out how to fuse everything well. I don't know if that whole electronic thing is what we're going to be called anymore. We just love what we do."
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