KELS Setlist

Daddy’s Not the One
Amphetamines
Fly on The Wall
Six Feet Under
Taxi
Gone
Ember

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■ The Current
KCMP (89.3 FM, 89.3 the Current) is a radio station owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) music format including a significant rotation of songs by local artists. Licensed to Northfield, Minnesota, and covering the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, the station’s studios are located at the MPR Broadcast Center on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul

As mentioned in our Summer Music Series preview, The Current hosts a set of happy hours with on-air DJ’s and a live music set. Here at the front end of the long Memorial Day weekend (sure, there’s still a Friday, but does that really count?), it was an excellent evening for a short set from the indie soul artist KELS, moniker for Kelsey Hillock. With the upcoming EP Dirty Blues Princess due out in June and (if I understood correctly) a full length album in fall, KELS has been busy touring and making music these last few years. With the set up outdoors in the parking lot, they had done a good job setting up the small, raised stage next to the DJ table where Mac Wilson had kept music going ahead of time and introduced KELS to the stage. Appearing solo, KELS mentioned she is on the road and considered this her first tour stop. She DJ’d for herself, starting and stopping the laptop as she went, needlessly apologizing after the first number, Daddy’s Not the One. KELS also mentioned it was her first time in Minneapolis, and “you guys have set the bar high”. Fly on the Wall was dripping with those soulful tones and the backing music was right on (an audience member next to me mentioned KELS also has a full backing band). KELS had a great vocal tone without being all tricks, and I appreciated her mix of self-deprecating humor and confidence in her music.

These were sharp and generally brief songs, and KELS was growing in vocal strength as the set moved on. She was so delighted by the crowd and that had leveled her energy up and Taxi was an unreleased number and was a great neo-soul pop song that had good vocal riffs that built to the close. Gone was the fan favorite that had gotten some airplay on The Current and there was a chunk of the crowd that was singing at the jump and her direction of the crowd on the chorus was a very cute moment. Finishing up on Ember, KELS promised to be back soon with band in tow, and she crushed the unreleased number making The Current’s Happy Hour a huge success.