While it may seem confining at first, cars can be effective acoustic spaces, as many have discovered singing along their radio. Vehicles with slightly rounded roofs, sloping rear windows and decent insulation and window seals create a bit of a natural fishbowl, allowing sound to rebound without directly reflecting; the closed space also helps amplify volume like that other favored personal stage, the shower stall. This can make for a rich, warm enveloping sound that makes you feel in the midst of the music rather than having it broadcast at you. And a London cab, with its traditional double-seat rear seating and slightly bulbous non-rectilinear frame, is upon reflection a bit of a rolling sound booth. And so the Black Cab Sessions are formed of the simple expedient of musicians limited to what they can hold and play in a back seat while slowly navigating the streets of London.

Part of what makes these so affecting is that they are by nature a hybrid experience of casual and professional. Traveling musicians can get swallowed by the stagecraft and perfectionist minutiae of soundchecks, but here you strip all that away and, in the most unguarded moments, see through to the experience of the music beneath in its raw form. Some of my favorite highlights so far include the spontaneous grins of Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls) from behind her ukulele and Annie Clark (of St Vincent) from behind her electric guitar as they seem to catch themselves in the joy of the moment; Lykke Li breaking out a miniature percussion ensemble of handclaps, shaker, finger cymbals and sleigh bells to supplement a bullhorn and accordion while Li herself wriggles dance moves in miniature; Jens Lekman exuding a solid calm as he solemnly plunks out his “Black Cab” on what I suppose is a finger piano (which, I kid you not, just came up on rotation in my iTunes…a song I didn’t even know I had); the transposition of synth-heavy duo The Raveonettes to an acoustic rendition of “Dead Sound” bounded by telltale British sirens and other traffic noise; and Ane Brun’s adorable sniffling. In each, you can see the performance against the mundane backdrop of the city (most are shot in daylight) as normal life continues around them. As cynical and removed as I sometimes find myself from the purity of music as a personal act of expression in a crowded, noisy world, the Black Cab Sessions are an unassuming remedy.

Media Aside:
The videos themselves are also a successful example of the long-heralded ‘independent media’ in that the creators at Just So Films are a trio of filmmakers “who understand the vast opportunities presented by the online environment” and have created a new property that builds on unscripted performance, handheld cameras, cinéma verité production, and online distribution while promoting both established and upcoming musicians to reach hundreds of thousands in over 150 countries. Contemporary visions of the future often trade on images of hundreds of simultaneous TV channels – even in farcically dystopic vistas like Mike Judge’s Idiocracy and Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, or the dour Babylon A.D. – with many apparently serving as direct-from-the-people communications. With YouTube long entrenched, the rise of CNN’s iReporters, and independent ventures like these Sessions, a future without the traditional gatekeepers of broadcast media seems ever closer.

[Thanks to Neil Gaiman's Journal for the tip.]