A Pop Gloss Obscures Branch’s Rebel Sound

Eighteen-year-old Arizonan Michelle Branch, who made her L.A. headlining debut at the Roxy on Friday, represents the latest twist on record labels’ approach to marketing music to young folks. It’s all about promoting “real” artists who write their own stuff and therefore (supposedly) speak authentically to their audiences, rather than simply mouthing the words of songwriting committees a la the teen-poppers who have been quite successful, though artistically bereft.

Yet it would seem that even an artist who cites rebels Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin as influences must take the tried-and-true teen-scene route of being pushed to MTV’s “Total Request Live,” having songs on TV shows and doing that Internet viral-marketing thing. Even Branch’s 2001 debut album, “The Spirit Room” (written mostly by her, with some help from producer John Shanks and others), has more of a slick modern-pop sheen than the stripped-down feel of a girl and her guitar.

Branch’s nearly hourlong Roxy set wasn’t as sonically glib, and most of the singer-guitarist’s love-oriented songs were believably optimistic and wistful, if at times painfully sincere.

Backed by a quartet, she displayed a knack for hooks on such numbers as the propulsive folk-rocker “Everywhere.”

She even inspired a few fans to spark up their lighters for the affecting “Goodbye to You,” a plaintive leave-behind-the-old-and-face-up-to-the-new ballad recently performed on TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

But these quality moments didn’t entirely keep tedium at bay, and Branch’s fine-enough voice didn’t much distinguish the more generic sentiments.

Although her admiration for rock’s icons may serve her better in the future, right now she is at best destined for a safer fate as the next generation’s Sheryl Crow or Jewel.