Jen Kearney & The Lost Onion at WERS

Jen Kearney & The Lost Onion at WERS

Jen Kearney playing keys at WERS. (Ross Dallas/WERS)

(Ross Dallas/WERS)

By Lily Jeong

It was a typical day of March in Boston. The grey sky had been sprinkling raindrops all day, and the air was a bit colder than people preferred it to be. Everybody seemed to be dragging their feet and trying to stay motivated, but the gloomy weather did not help the lazy vibe floating around the station. Given the lethargic vibe, Jen Kearney & the Lost Onion’s organic sound was a wonderful surprise.

When the band went into their first song “The Year of the Ox,” Kearney’s powerful voice instantly brightened up the low-key atmosphere of the studio. It felt as if the band was loosening up my stiff joints to make me sway to their groovy sound. Kearney’s scratchy yet driving voice reminded me a lot of Susan Tedeschi’s vocals; it blended with the band’s mellow and sentimental instrumentals.

Although it was her first time performing on-air, Jen Kearney seemed to be very relaxed and content. Her second song, “To the Moon,” really showed Kearney’s songwriting skills as well as her ability to express her emotions freely through performing. Peter MacLean’s crisp drums topped with soul-infused piano riffs made a great rainy-day song, maintaining a good balance of soft and hard.

“I grew up listening to a lot of Otis Redding and old soul music like Aretha Franklin,” said Kearney when I asked about where she got her soul influence, “I was a freak about it, and I listened to every little bit of it… My mom had a bunch of cool records as well.”

Indeed, Kearney’s last song of the set, “Prime Meridian,” had a strong taste of old soul. The waltz rhythm piano intro slowly lead into a jazzy tune, and the band stayed with the free spirit throughout the entire song. Carl Johnson and Kearney rocked out sharing solo spots and creating an instrumental conversation. The seamless flow of the energy made it feel like they were improvising the song on the spot.

Kearney has taken such sonic experience all over the nation: northeast, Colorado, and even Georgia. However, she plans to stay local for a while because she feels like she needs to be stable until her new album release.

“We are gonna be very busy, I think,” said Kearney, “because we are releasing a CD in May. We are looking to book a ton of shows locally, and see how far we can get with it!”