Niina Soleil :: Rex & The Rhythm :: Camille Trust

Born of pure liberation and Laurel Canyon sun-soaked thrills, Niina Soleil took flight to CALIFORNIALAND, the latest (release date August 28th) for this scarlet-lipped starlet with desert dreams. Selling out this Bay Area show at The Independent SF made her arrival even sweeter, with San Francisco specifically called out in “Take Me Into the Sunshine”. Clad in a Pan Am-era stewardess uniform and white cowgirl boots, the show truly was a flight of fancy, suffusing jazz, pop, soul, blues, and country twang, plus a set of sweet-toned pipes on Niina that sits somewhere between Duffy and Linda Ronstadt. Songs like Ramblin' (which bears an hip-swaying interpolative similarity to Sheryl Crow's “All I Wanna Do” and Stealers Wheel's “Stuck In The Middle With You”) or the melancholy ballad of “Life & Times of a Wannbe Rockstar" (which according to Soleil, was written nearly fully formed on the floor of her manager's house after a long night “talking about our dreams...”), or “Heaven Take Me Up” (about medical problems, Soleil remarked, that she won't bore us with because they are “...mostly in Latin”) are all part of the rich tapestry that is CALIFORNIALAND. Backed by her band The Heartstrings, it was hands down one of the best shows in town, including a pressure-building multi-instrumental jam session encore of “Say It in My Skirt!” If you're looking for something for those long nights that bleed into mornings, and you're seeing the ghosts of The Mamas And The Papas in the Upper Haight, count your blessings, as Niina is here to lay it down and not waste your time. Be sure to catch her next show, as Soleil is only stopping over in CALIFORNIALAND and is headed straight for the stars.