“Lava”
Lava
(Self-published)

Doing remakes of mainstream Top 40 “oldies” almost never turns out well for local recording artists. That makes the decision of this local group to open its debut album with a remake of a 1966 Billboard Top 10 hit look like a bad idea — until you play the CD. Surprise, surprise, Lava pulls it off with amazing finesse.

The song is “I’m Your Puppet,” the first and biggest hit for James & Bobby Purify, which peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100 in 1966. Using unconventional instrumentation, Lava — Lawrence Kalani on vocals, Ka‘awela Kahalepauole on bass, Hawk Devi on violin, Joe Kiko on lead ukulele and Gene Tamashiro on congas — takes the song a long, long way from its ’60s soul music origins but retains the emotion of the original hit.

Lava also delivers radical reworkings of “One,” the Harry Nilsson song that was a Billboard Top 5 hit for Three Dog Night in 1969, and a Garth Brooks hit, “Two Pina Coladas,” from 1998. Only the sharpest ’60s music fans are likely to recognize “Rainy Day” as the beautiful pocket symphony that was originally a B-side release for the Rascals in 1968, but Lava’s remake ends with a delightful demonstration of the musicians’ skill.

On every song — remakes and originals alike — the interplay between the violin and ukulele sets Lava apart.

Add Kalani’s well-worn, back-porch-style vocals and Lava brings to mind the work of Big Island Conspiracy and its only known album, “Street Tapestry Vol. 1: Reflective but Unrepentant,” from 1999, and of Pana‘ewa, a side project by Sudden Rush member Shane “Kid Dynomite” Keahi Veincent, and that group’s only known album, “Homestead,” in 2005. Is the island known variously as the Big Island, Hawaii island and Moku o Keawe particularly conducive to this type of original acoustic hapa-haole music?

Lava also represents the continuation of the previous groups’ commitment to Hawaiian nationalism and original mele kue (songs of resistance). “‘O Kanaka Maoli” calls on Hawaiians to right the wrongs that were done when the government of Hawaii was overthrown in 1893. “Mystery” bemoans the general destruction of the environment — land, water, ocean, sky. “From Myself” shares the worldview of someone who is so oppressed by society that “I can’t even cry.”

Although most of the songs that aren’t overtly political are about failed relationships, Lava strikes a lighter note with songs that celebrate rural life and the pleasure of ocean sports.

Kalani describes his group’s music as “Hawaiian contemporary-reggae fusion.” Whatever it’s called, Lava’s album is a fine, enjoyable debut.