The last several years have seen Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, who plays an 8 p.m. show at Shank Hall tonight, push his well-worn folk-pop in some daring directions. For his 2005 album, Destination Unknown, Sexsmith returned to the stripped-down, all-acoustic setting for the first time since his 1980s debut. His latest album, Exit Strategy of the Soul, is perhaps his boldest yet. It pairs him with Cuban jazz musicians who lend a Latin rhythm to his sensitive songs. The album also finds him also teaming up with Canadian it-girl Feist, whose breezy, jazzy songs owe a mostly unnoted debt to Sexsmith, even though Feist even covered his “Secret Heart” on her breakthrough album, Let It Die.
Ron Sexsmith
Today @ Shank Hall - 8 p.m.
