Matisyahu + Umphrey’s McGee

Central Park SummerStage; Thu 9

Photograph:Beau Grealy

Listeners turn to different genres of music to access different sentiments. Rappers are alternately tough and professorial, rogue intellectuals whose insights conveniently rhyme. Boy bands are chaste: innocent blanks absorbing the romantic yearnings of puzzled preteen girls. (Apologies to TONY’s new Music editors.) And reggae singers, with unerring consistency, are valued for a kind of quickie spirituality—Bob Marley staring out from a million dorm-room walls, a prophet through the haze of smoke. So especially for a non-Jamaican, in order to be accepted as a reggae singer one must project a sense of exoticism. Sinéad O’Connor, the bald priest, recently recorded a fine album with Sly & Robbie. Even more popular is Matisyahu, a suburban Deadhead who grew up to become a Hasidic Jew—and unlikely reggae star.

Matisyahu’s religion is less a novelty than it is his underlying principle and calling card. His songs are full of vague prayers and broad-spectrum pleas for nice things, such as peace. Light, the singer’s forthcoming album, stretches his sound to incorporate elements of hip-hop, pop and hard-edged alt rock. In concert, he literally reaches out to his crowd as if prowling for converts. The point is clear: There is something in Matisyahu for everybody. (Those swayed by his music should note that the Hasidic community tends to be a bit less open.)

In Central Park, where the singer plays a ticketed show to benefit SummerStage, Matisyahu is joined by the prog band Umphrey’s McGee. For them, faith seems to lie in nothing less godly than lengthy, flashy solos.—Jay Ruttenberg

Buy Light on Amazon.com | Buy it on BN.com

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