No Sinner - Boo Hoo Hoo (2013)

No Sinner, lead by 26-year-old Colleen Rennison is a force of nature, a post modern soul belter and queen of rock, a hard-singing, hard-loving, hard-drinking, hard-working throwback to those her and the guys grew up listening to, including Nina Simone, Tina Turner, Rolling Stones and Diana Ross.

Rennison learned from a cousin that her name was “No Sinner” spelled backwards, is now the singer of a raucous rock band with guitarist Eric Campbell, drummer Ian Browne and rotating bassists Bradley Ferguson and Parker Bossley. Their debut album, Boo Hoo Hoo, includes six tracks from a 2012 EP released on Vancouver indie First Love Records.

Boo Hoo Hoo travels from the juke-joint jump blues of its title track and the Delta swamp of “Runnin’,” with a chugging Creedence beat, to “Love Is Madness” with a Motown bass line and a Dusty Springfield “Spooky” vibe. Other highlights include a cover of Nina Simone’s version of Nat Adderley / Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Work Song”, the soaring, affirmative gospel revival of “Rise Up,” the sensuous plaint of “If Anything” and the feedback-charged “Devil on My Back,” a band composition that features Black Mountain’s Matt Camirand.

No Sinner’s music is about the clash between the sacred and the profane, the preacher and the devil, the sins of Saturday night at the local watering hole being washed away in the redemption of Sunday morning in church; in short, the very contradiction at the heart of rock ’n’ roll.