New music from Norwell's Totem; Salem's witches inspire new songs from Lauren Henderson

This week we take a look at two local artists who have taken their music in new directions. Jazz singer Lauren Henderson explores Latin and South American music in a collection of originals and standards based on the theme of female empowerment. Norwell hard-rockers Totem, meanwhile, deliver a cathartic album that is mostly softer, acoustic centered tunes detailing loss and its aftermath.

Salem witches inspire new songs

Marblehead native Lauren Henderson always notes, when meeting people for the first time, that her hometown is right next to Salem, which provided the inspiration for her new album, "La Bruja."

“Everyone always knows Salem, and usually they’ll say ‘Oh, the witches!’” Henderson said. “I’ve always been proud to be from that area, but what happened to those women is something that is known far and wide. And we all wonder, what could they possibly have done to deserve being executed ...? That was the start of this album, wanting to explore some of those things, women’s role in society, and also to do a tribute to the beautiful songs of Central America and South America. I have ancestry in Montserrat and Panama – my grandfather was down there when they were building the canal – and I wanted to do a record that celebrates that.”

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Henderson, 35, graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, and then earned her master's degree in business administration at Brown University, and founded her own Brontosaurus Records label. But her studies also included musical traditions in Puebla, Mexico, and flamenco in Cordoba, Spain, through the universities in both places.

The new album, released July 29, is available on streaming platforms or through laurenhendersonmusic.com. It includes four Henderson originals, as well as seven Latin American standards. There are classic songs like “Perfidia,” a tale of romantic treachery first done by Xavier Cugat and later by Nat “King” Cole, and lesser-known numbers like “La Sitiera,” a gripping story of a love gone astray. (Coincidentally, "La Sitiera" is also on the last album by country-rockers The Mavericks, whose tour played Plymouth’s Memorial Hall in June.) Henderson is the kind of vocalist who excels at nuances, and throughout these 11 songs she achieves a subtle intimacy that makes it seem like she’s right there in the room with the listener, while the Latin flavors give it all a simmering heat.

Henderson’s seventh full-length album is part of a two-album project she completed during the pandemic. Since relocating to New York City she’s kept a busy schedule of performing and recording with some of the Big Apple’s best jazz players, some of whom appear on the record, usually in quartet or quintet format.

“I did write during the pandemic, and at times I’m proud of my creativity, having completed two records during that time,” she said. “But there are other times I think I should’ve done four. We’ll be rolling out the second album this fall, and the second record will be like an answer to this one. This first one is all in Spanish and the second one will be almost all in English. I wanted it to be as if the records were speaking to each other and we did them both in the same sessions so I could mix and match songs with the same groups of musicians.”

“Perfidia” becomes a slow, sultry samba with John Chin’s playful piano lines giving it resilience, while his piano also drives the bright, upbeat “La Sitiera.” It is worth finding the lyrics to “La Sitiera” and their translation, for it is a truly remarkable poetic work.

“I think that’s a wonderful song,” Henderson said. “I grew up with my parents listening to the Buena Vista Social Club record and they had a version of that song. Those lyrics go deep. I think they reflect the stages of romance but also of society where the idea is, ‘We’ve got something good and strong going on here; let’s not ruin it.’ That just called to me, with all the things going on in the world today.”

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The title cut “La Bruja” (The Witch), is credited to Jarocho and the Vera Cruz area of Mexico. The song has a mystical aura enhanced by the dazzling interplay of Sean Mason’s piano and Joel Ross’ vibraphone.

“I wanted that mystical feel, and I knew Joel on vibes was something I needed for that tune,” Henderson noted. “I learned that song when I was studying in Mexico and it is a very popular, traditional song. I fell in love with it."

Henderson’s most striking original is “Amistad,” a quintet piece with a hauntingly beautiful melody and understated Latin American accents. The 1997 movie “Amistad” told the story of the 1839 incident in which a Spanish slave ship was taken over by the slaves off Cuba, then captured along the East Coast by the U.S. Navy. After a lengthy legal fight that involved John Quincy Adams, the slaves were freed. In this song, Mason and Ross craft the entrancing melody and Gabe Schneider adds a subtle guitar solo that builds to an inspiring finish, as if telling the story sonically in addition to the singer’s emotional vocal.

“I wrote ‘Amistad’ to highlight my culture,” Henderson said. “I’ve been very interested in the African diaspora in Latin America and I wanted to cover that. People think of that ship, off the coast of Cuba, and their music has echoes of Africa – that Afro Cuban sound, so that song allowed me to explore all the colors, and sub-colors, of my culture.”

Henderson is heading to Europe for a tour that will encompass all of September, but she will be performing at the Beacon Theater in Marblehead on Oct. 29.

New album from Norwell's Totem

Norwell’s Totem began in the mid-1990s as a hard-rock outfit, releasing their debut album in ’97 and enjoying a solid run around New England. They stepped back when life intervened, but reunited in 2009 and have done occasional shows ever since. Main songwriters David Kaslauskas and Gary Alex have never stopped writing, however, and the new album, "The Power to Forgive," shows not just the maturity of that experience, but also a distinctly new style.

While a couple of hard-rocking songs bookend the album, most of "The Power to Forgive" is in a low-key, often acoustic style that evokes New Wave indie rock or British pop. “Expendable Like,” for example, a toe-tapping, swinging rocker that is a sweet look back at a lost love, could be a cut from a Squeeze album. It’s one of 2022’s coolest surprises, that Kaslauskas and Alex have become the new Difford and Tillbrook.

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The album also follows a sort of chronological path, the loss and regret of a painful breakup, and eventually the redemption of overcoming that. That cathartic feel suffuses the whole record, and lyricist Kaslauskas admitted it reflects what was a difficult period in his own life. The album was recorded mainly at Mic’d Up Audio Productions, which Alex runs, and also at 37’ Productions, both in Rockland.

“Get Carried Away” opens the album with the Totem sound we’ve all been used to, raw and hard with whipsaw guitar lines and a vocal whose yearning is palpable. But then “Sister Melandrome” and “Ghost to You” shift into softer, acoustic-centered rock, and a bittersweet tone that echoes the hurt behind it. “Sweet for Nothing” is a lovely acoustic guitar ballad, and “Just Enough” works off a stark keyboard figure as the course of a painful relationship is recalled. The brisk acoustic guitar lines of “Climber” and the bright harpsichord tones of “Watch the World” signal emergence from the darkness with their soaring pop. And then, “Untitled Eight” returns to Totem’s hard-rocking foundation.

Totem’s record is available on all the streaming platforms or through the band’s bandcamp.com site. Physical copies can be found at Norwell’s Inclusion Records, where fans can pay whatever they want for it, or just take it for free, because Kaslauskas and Alex simply want their music to be heard.  Plans are afoot for a release party and a show at Inclusion Records this fall.

Manilow, Motley Crue and more on tap

Thursday finds Barry Manilow headlining the TD Garden. Friday has FREE music: Richie Rich and the 24 Karat Funk Band at 7 p.m. at The Launch in Hingham Harbor. The big Motley Crue/Def Leppard Tour hits Fenway Park on Friday and Saturday. Saturday night, Fitz and the Tantrums get you dancing at Leader Bank Pavilion, or swing by The C-Note in Hull, where Texas bluesman Willie J. Laws vies with Italy’s guitarslinger Roberto Morbioli, or check out Soundcheck Studios for the acclaimed Aerosmith tribute Draw the Line.

Saturday and Sunday from 3 to 8 p.m.,  downtown Quincy hosts a free multicultural folk festival,  with polka bands, klezmer and oompah bands too. Sunday afternoon finds New Hampshire pianist/singer Veronica Lewis (compared to both Carole King and New Orleans queen Katie Webster) at the John Alden Sportsman's Club, while Bagful of Blues is at The Greyhound Tavern in Bridgewater. Remember Emily Wade Adams, whose Nancy Wilson show played The Spire Center in 2019? Adams is back and playing her originals Aug.11 at the Cotuit Center for the Arts.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: New music Norwell's Totem; Salem witches inspire Lauren Henderson