Karen Ponzio Photo
JanaeSound
“How about FaTE?” said Janay Woodruff — vocalist for JanaeSound — at beginning of her band’s set Thursday night at Cafe Nine. “We were destined to be together!”
It was a play on words, but also words of wisdom as these two acts with two powerful and enigmatic vocalists came together for one incredible evening of goosebump-inducing music.
FaTE is an acronym for Fernanda and the Ephemeral, a local band made up of Fernanda Franco on lead vocals, Alex Patrie on rhythm guitar, keyboards, and vocals, Zack Ross on bass and vocals, Zack Rosenberg on lead guitar, and Nick Morcaldi on drums. They took to the stage and headed right into their first funky tune, “Hold My Hand.” Franco was already smiling and the band captured the audience from note one, with many who were there immediately swaying along. Before the second song Franco spoke.
“We are FaTE, which you all know,” she said with a laugh. “Hello fam!” directing her words towards the audience members she knew. “We have a lot of tunes and a new EP. I wanna explain…”
“Didn’t we have our release show here?” Rosenberg interjected.
“Yes! We did!” she answered and laughter ensued.
The rest of the set continued with light and lovely exchanges between band members and audience, who all clearly enjoyed each other as this band took on covers of Amy Winehouse — who Franco said she and Ross discovered their “deep love” for after participating in a tribute show for her at this very bar — and even the song “Dilemma” by Nelly and Kelly Rowland, which Franco said was one of her favorite songs growing up.
Original songs — including selections from the aforementioned EP Large Faxes — highlighted the band’s smooth funk and scintillating harmonies as well as Franco’s powerful vocals. There was never a moment when they did not seem to be having the time of their lives. A slower jam called “Make It Work,” which Franco said was written with the help of her friend Chad (Springer) from the band Phat A$tronaut, let them all dig even deeper into their soulfulness, though they had already chased the cold out of everyone’s bones. The rocked a little harder when Patrie took over lead vocals and switched from keyboard to guitar for a tune, keeping it fun and fresh to the very end. Franco introducing the final song by saying “I’m gonna blow my voice out.” Her voice held out, and even more than that, she did in fact blow the room away. Local music fans: put FaTE on your must-see list for 2020, please.
JanaeSound, hailing from Maine, were making their Cafe Nine debut on this evening. Vocalist Janay Woodruff and guitarist Andrew LaVogue immediately captured the attention of every audience member with the first notes of “Break Me Down,” their opening number, highlighted by Woodruff’s stunning vocals. Wearing a holiday sweater that said #BLESSED on it — “it’s still Christmas until my birthday on the 26th of this month,” Woodruff told the audience, who responded with cheers — for most of the show, the duo blessed the bar with both originals written by Woodruff and covers that showcased their ability to take a well-known song and make it their own. Those covers included “Creep” by Radiohead (“I was feeling creepy,” said Woodruff, “so thanks for allowing me to share that”) as well as “Halo” and “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce, and “Cuz I Love You” by Lizzo. Woodruff ‘s vocals soared across the room, inducing chills, goosebumps and all other kinds of responses from the audience — including shouts of yes and wow over and over again.
Original pieces such as the song “Fear” (“I wrote about fear and it became my friend,” she told the crowd) and “Diamonds,” which she said was her first single, written “from a dark place, but you’re not alone if you’re in that dark place,” extended Woodruff’s own lyrical beauty to the crowd as well. She got even more personal and even more cheers from the audience with her song “You Knew,” which she said was about “a time I had a choice between me and someone else and I chose me. I highly recommend you choose yourself.”
The band ended the night with “Death of Me,” which she said was “how I feel about music” and included the lyrics “You’ll be the death of me, but you taste so sweet. I hope you’re worth it.” With their combination of powerhouse vocals, soulful guitar work, and inspiring lyricism, this band was more than well worth it and more than made their mark on this Thursday evening.
“We love it here and we wanna come back,” said Woodruff. “Our best friends are FaTE now.” It was indeed meant to be.