Call him a dream-pop star.
New Zealand-born musician Connan Mockasin is building an international reputation with his treasure trove of experimental soul songs that are as appropriate for a candle-lit rendezvous as they are for a psychedelic adventure. Now, he is bringing his sexy Prince-meets-Ween act to the Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 2.
The oddball singer said he feels right at home playing in Brooklyn and other centers of romantic urbanity, such as Paris.
“People here seem to understand,” said Mockasin, whose real name is Connan Tant Hosford.
The songs on Mockasin’s highly lauded new album “Caramel” — which was reportedly recorded in a Japanese hotel room — are filled with gentle, childlike vocals, oddly snaking samples of sound, breathy background voices, and sensuous beats. One strangely punctuated song is titled “I’m The Man, That Will Find You” — though it sounds like he is saying something much saucier.
“I wanted to make a record that sounded like the word ‘caramel,’ ” said Mockasin. “It is a naughty, flirty, smooth, slick record.”
Mockasin’s music videos are slices of performance art and high-art and fashion — one video features the artist singing from a lemon grove with lemon slices for eyes, while another shows him and friends dancing very slowly while in mop heads and oddly painted outfits. And he said the audience can expect more of the same from his Williamsburg show.
“I have a few tricks up my sleeve,” he said.
Connan Mockasin and Kirin J. Callinan at the Music Hall of Williamsburg [66 N. Sixth St. between Wythe and Kent avenues in Williamsburg, (718) 486–5400, www.musichallofwilliamsburg.com]. May 2 at 8 pm, $15.
