The Cat in the Cream isn’t exactly known as a place one goes to dance. The venue is typically filled with tables and couches, and when it isn’t, you’ll often find people opting to sit down on the floor rather than stand. Generally, the Cat is where one goes to see an intimate folk show or a packed Jazz Forum, not to move their feet. Nevertheless, there are exceptions. This Saturday, Brooklyn-based neo-soul artist John Ugbe, who performs as Black Hibiscus, undeniably had the crowd moving. He played a set full of unreleased songs and collaborations with rapper, producer, and friend Moye Ponnle, who performs as moye — a set that stood out from a typical show at the Cat.
College third-year Aurora Gray, performing mononymously as Aurora, kicked off the night with a warm, bittersweet set of R&B and pop covers about heartbreak and young love. They were joined by College second-year Sebastian Dalisay-Hockett on guitar and Conservatory second-year Laraya Hudson on vocals. Dalisay-Hockett’s nimble guitar playing was the perfect accompaniment to Gray and Hudson’s back-and-forth vocal interplay, full of twinkling melodic flourishes that never distracted from the vocals. Gray was an expressive performer, gesticulating during particularly intense moments in her songs. Her vocals were breathy but forceful, full of agile, airy vocal runs. Hudson, a jazz vocalist with a pleasantly nasal tone, synergized well with Gray as the two came together for some truly moving vocal harmonies. From Billie Eillish’s “WILDFLOWER” to SZA and Phoebe Bridgers’ “Ghost in the Machine,” Gray managed to make the covers her own, thanks to her and Hudson’s distinctive voices and Dalisay-Hockett’s minimalist guitar arrangements.
Black Hibiscus’ DJ Brandon Lamont got behind the decks to play the backing track for his first song before the man himself hopped on stage, clad in an impressive black leather trenchcoat and eye-catching leather shoes. Black Hibiscus had an instantly recognizable sound, playing a strain of laidback, soulful bedroom R&B reminiscent of Blood Orange and Solange — influences he confirmed with me after the show. His jangly guitar-centric instrumentals, backed by hard-hitting programmed drums and dreamy retro synthesizers, reminded me of a more generic Nourished By Time, the brilliant singer-songwriter-producer who played The ’Sco last spring. Unlike Nourished By Time, Black Hibiscus struggled to distinguish his own style from that of his influences. Individual songs blended together as he played the same kind of instrumentals and sang in a similar style again and again.
This isn’t to say that the show wasn’t a good time, even if it became repetitive after a while. Black Hibiscus was a spirited vocalist, frequently breaking out into wailing falsetto and pulling off dense rap verses. Lamont justified his presence as Black Hibiscus’ DJ by adding splashes of extra delay to fill out the space in between songs, adding an element of liveness to otherwise straightforward backing tracks. Later on in the show, moye joined Black Hibiscus to play a handful of their musical collaborations. moye stunned with his arresting, loose vocal delivery, reminiscent of rappers like Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE. His brand-new debut single, “mud.,” was easily the highlight of the show, featuring a hypnotically repetitive drumless beat with acrobatic, frantic rapping from both him and Black Hibiscus.
What really bolstered the show was the interaction and camaraderie between Black Hibiscus and his audience. Being a good performer is an art unto itself and can elevate ordinary music to something enjoyable, even exhilarating. If nothing else, Black Hibiscus certainly put on a good show, winning the audience over with his stage presence and banter. His anecdote about the real-life love triangle that inspired his song “YOU, ME & HER” was hilarious and endearing, and his habit of announcing when he was playing an unreleased song gave the entire concert a sense of exclusivity, like the audience had been let in on some big secret. Black Hibiscus had infectious energy as he danced around the stage of the Cat, and you could feel the passion emanating from every word and vocalization that escaped his lips.
Black Hibiscus’ last few songs were a little more upbeat than the rest, inspiring the crowd to move around and sing along with him. When he announced he was playing his last song, “OMEN,” several people yelled, “No!” as “OMEN” exploded into a surging, swirling climax with walls of distorted guitar and raging saxophone; the energy in the room climaxed along with it. Friends and couples were dancing together, and the mood was one of enrapturement. At the end of the show, he threw Black Hibiscus-branded t-shirts and his setlist out into the crowd before taking a selfie with them — a move familiar but no less delightful.
