Songs of Love

On a quiet Sunday night, I dropped by The Burdock for 2 troubadours. It was a sparse but attentive crowd. Jenny Berkel opened the night. She had a low, calm voice but that may be due to a lingering illness. I enjoyed her intricate fingering on the guitar. The multi-part harmonies provided by her sister and Stephen Foster (Omhouse) were sweet and understated.

Foster came back as the drummer for headliner Luka. I don't love this all-male configuration of this band because the 60s crooner style and unapologetically romantic songs of Luke Kuplowsky really soar with female back-up singers. Luckily, one of them was in the audience tonight. Julie Arsenault joined Luka for 2 numbers and her contributions were immediately apparent. But I still quite like his set of love and heartache, though I usually find most love songs boring. The addition of flautist Ann Phung, who handled most of the solos, gave some fun and whimsy to the music.