Charles’ Songs Anchor Elysian Fields Set

A New York band with a subtle, seductive, “quiet alternative” sound, Elysian Fields is Jennifer Charles--a provocative crooner who intones like a cross between Mazzy Star low-key blueswoman Hope Sandoval and Congo Norvell torch queen Sally Norvell. She is fire and ice, seductress and cool poet. At the Largo on Wednesday, Charles and her band played a hushed, understated set that rode on Charles’ knack for holding a room in thrall.

Both Charles and guitarist Oren Bloedow have ties to the New York’s famed Knitting Factory, a haven for progressive jazz, so it was no surprise that the group’s moody, sophisticated set wove jazz-based tunes around Charles’ sultry and literate words.

When she walked onstage in a silky sheath, the former actress looked like a sleepwalker who didn’t quite see the crowd before her. As Charles delved further into her dreamlike songs and somnambulist’s pose, it became more and more disquieting. Charles clearly believes that seduction must feel forbidden.

The bedroom ambience bolstered the voyeuristic nature of the show, which weaves music around the singer’s invitations. “I want to take you to the stars,” she sang, “I want to take you to the moon, I want to take you to our room.”

Freely moving within blues, rock and jazz forms, the band occasionally wandered a little, but it pulled the show up by the bootstraps with “‘Star.” The tune, from the band’s debut album, “Bleed Your Cedar,” grounded the more ethereal qualities of Elysian Field’s act with punkish energy that felt totally immediate.