Every artist has to start somewhere. For Keys Please, a pair of female singer-songwriters based in New York City, that somewhere was The Redhouse last night.

Playing in just their third show together, Kristin Hoffman and Natasha Alexandra opened the first show of Redhouse Live!, a series of concerts being held at the intimate Syracuse venue.

The music was a mix of piano ballads and computer-based electronica; most of the songs wrapped pulsing trip-hop beats around the vocal harmonies. Swirling throughout the songs were dark strings and synthesizers that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Portishead album.

The two singers presented a contrast in style. Trained at Julliard, Hoffman’s voice has a soft and earthy Tori Amos tone, differing from her partner’s. The gruffness and snarl in Alexandra’s vocals bears a slight resemblance to that of fellow Canadian Alanis Morrisette. At its best, Keys Please mixes the gentle with the edgy.

Generally, one singer deferred to the other, rather than the two combining. This often led to Hoffman singing at her piano while Alexandra stood idly by her board of electronics, intermittently pressing keys on her iMac or synthesizers to release a squelch or two, and occasionally chiming in with a back-up vocal. Later on, they switched roles and Hoffman took the back seat.

Having both spent years as solo artists, the lack of cohesion is to be expected. As the gig progressed, the two singers meshed more fluidly. At one point, Alexandra fiddled with an accordion while Hoffman brandished an acoustic guitar for a series of songs.

The audience, filled with musicians, seemed pleased with the duo. Sunny Hernandez, a singer and 2004 Syracuse graduate with a degree in sociology, enjoyed the technological mash-up.

‘I think it shows a lot of talent to be able to build a full-band sound simply from technology,’ Hernandez said. ‘To be able to do that off the cuff is impressive.’

In between sets, a question and answer session with the audience led to Hoffman, who had previously been signed by both Capitol and Interscope Records, criticizing the major label record industry. Other covered topics included a potential tour in Italy, the merits of Canadian healthcare and the usefulness of MySpace.com.

‘MySpace has really helped to get things going,’ Hoffman said. ‘We’re all cyber-friends.’

Published on September 26, 2006 at 12:00 pm