POP MUSIC REVIEW : Dublin’s Black Velvet at Roxy

In Irish pub parlance, a black velvet is a half-and-half mix of champagne and Guinness stout, the former cutting the harshness of the latter, the latter cutting the price of the former. Dublin’s Black Velvet Band strives to blend its champagne-like romantic spirituality with a Guinness-like, earthy, folk-rock sound. At the Roxy on Monday, the young sextet--supporting its debut album, “When Justice Came”--showed that it knew the recipe well, but failed to add many twists of its own.

The problem is not one of quality, but of identity. Lead Velvet Kieran Kennedy sings, writes and performs with effective understatement, his themes of love, hope, spirit and courage (as spelled out specifically in the song “We Called It”) benefiting from his almost beatific demeanor. The band, too, played with a tight delicacy, an impressionistic rendering of the running-water kind of metaphor Kennedy favors. That quiet strength made the impact of several massive, nearly manic numbers all the more impressive for the contrast.

But save for background singer Maria Doyle, the Velvets tread ground well worked over by fellow Dubliners (and fellow U2 discoveries) Hothouse Flowers and converted Irishman Mike Scott of the Waterboys--with more than a passing nod to Van Morrison, the godfather of Caledonia soul. At best, though, as in the boisterous “Domino,” the band points down the road it may travel in the future as it develops its own style.

L.A.’s Havalinas, an acoustic--but hardly tame--trio fronted by former Rockcat Tim Scott, previewed its upcoming debut album in its opening set. The band appears to have gained focus from recording with producer Don Gehman without losing any of its wild energy.