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Who is that girl?

Haden (center) sings The Who Sells Out

Formerly of the overlooked That Dog and lately an auxiliary Foo Fighter, Haden has become an in-demand session singer; but it’s an oddball project that’s gotten her the most attention. A few years ago her friend Mike Watt gave her a tape of the Who’s 1966 album The Who Sell Out and suggested she sing over it; she eventually replaced all the Who’s parts with her own vocals and released the result. Last night she brought a six-woman chorus dubbed the Sellouts into the MFA for a strictly a cappella show, which drew a surprisingly low turnout of about 75.

Speaking between songs in a nasal Valley Girl voice, Haden apologized for the night’s one screw-up by noting, “I’m sorry, but this is really intricate stuff.” And it was: the night’s two original songs — both wordless pieces from her prior solo album, Imaginaryland (Win) — had many hypnotic layers of shifting parts. Their take on a Bach prelude was likewise a real feat of invention, the sort of thing the Swingle Singers made a career out of in the ’60s. And the set-closing “God Only Knows” had to be the first cover version as gorgeous as the Beach Boys’ original.

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Only the first side of the Who’s album was performed, complete with the links and jingles, often treated like they were classic pieces to be precisely recreated — perhaps it takes a classical contralto to get that robot voice on the “Wonderful Radio London” jingle. But Haden delivered the emotion when needed, treating “Our Love Was, Is,” rightfully, a grand outpouring. It was all fun, creative, and true to the spirit of the Who, which is more than I’ll ever say about the Who’s new album.

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