Rolling stone

Making up for lost time, here's much-travelled piano woman Jade McNelis, the middle portion of the June 20 Soviet States and Besnard Lakes show. She was born in Taiwan, adopted by a U.S. family and has followed her musical journey from Florida to Montreal where folks from The Stars, The Dears and The Stills chipped in for her EP All The Fables. I like her recorded sound, which is a bit noisier than her solid live set. She's a good performer but may need a fifth person on stage.

Jade.



Bassist Matt Mitchell.



Drummer Galen Pelley.



My one good photo of guitarist Chris. McNelis has described her backing band as a bunch of young jazz players; Chris certainly looks it.



Rhythm section action!



Matt switched to cello for one of the tunes.



Jaded action!











The whole lot!



She'll be back in the capital for Bluesfest on July 15.

Capital kickoff

Day 1 of Capital Idea Festival got off to a good start with locals Soviet States, Jade McNelis and Besnard Lakes. It was a fine combination of rootsy pop, piano pop and psych pop.

Societ States: I could have sworn they broke up in 1991. Kerri Carisse at left, Steve St. Pierre at right. Other band members will appear as time allows.




Jade McNelis, another potent entry into the piano playing singer-songwriter sweepstakes. I thought she and her band sounded a bit Feist-like.



The Besnard Lakes have been swell every time I've seen them, and the third occasion was as charming as any. They also had their keyboardist with them this time.



Capital Idea continues tonight at Babylon with Sunset Rubdown, Montag and Miracle Fortress and an art display from postermaker Jack Dylan.

• Show reminder: The Transit and Brights perform at End Hits.