Ahh, that sweet soul music. What is it about it that sends the soul? Yeah, there's that tight beat, there's that deep groove, there're those vocals wailing to the rafters or crying in their pillow. But there's something burning way below that gives soul its soul. Nouveau soul sensation Jesse Dee sings it, plays it, knows it.

"It's a number of different things," Dee says on the phone from a tour stop in New York City. "The simplicity of it, the directness of it, and the emotion that it's able to convey. It starts with the vocals for me. I guess it's kind of subjective. You can have a technical definition of soul, or how it originated. For me it's something conveyed from the heart, something that's meaningful and honest. Put all those things together and that equals honesty...and that can be soul right there."

And it's all there on Dee's debut disc, the aptly titled "Bittersweet Batch." A blast of high and tight horns, choppy rhythms, and a raggedly beautiful voice you don't typically hear coming from a white kid in his 20s. The testifying rant punctuated by the band's intense stop and start will have you on your feet, the Redding-inspired ballads will fold you in half. It hurts and it heals. It is exhilarating and amazing. You can feel it everywhere. Hold on, you may not be ready.

But most of America is ready for soul. Too many artists masquerading as soulsters have sold us short. Dee speculates this new soul movement - Amy Winehouse, James Hunter, Stephanie McKay, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - is somewhat reactionary, somewhat organic.

"I think it's a mixture," he says. "The industry has become so saturated with really bad, fake music. I think for the most part people are sick of that and they're slowly becoming more thirsty and hungry for real, honest music, and soul has a lot of that wrapped up in it. So it's naturally appealing."

And with the help of artists like Dee, it's cracking the mainstream once again as the mainstream begins to make room. According to Dee, soul never bailed in the first place.

"I think if anything the mainstream has gone away," says Dee. "Soul music hasn't gone away. Gradually, hopefully, there'll be more room in the mainstream for it. There's certainly plenty of room out of the mainstream for it." And that's where Dee has flourished so far.

Dee has a fine arts background. He is both a painter and musician. He was often inspired to paint portraits of soul legends that inspired him musically. Ultimately, music tipped the scales for him.

"I've been doing both most of my life," he says. "At one point I came to the conclusion that music is more powerful than visual art in the sense of its ability to effect other people. I just think music has a greater capability. I think that two-dimensional art can sometimes alienate people if they don't understand it. Whereas you hear music, and it's able to affect you in so many different ways. Sometimes music is more accessible to people."

Dee still paints, and finds musical inspiration doing so. However the street doesn't necessarily go both ways.

"When I'm painting I'm usually listening to music, or a lot of times I'm singing and writing songs in my head," he says. "When I'm performing I can't really say I'm thinking of painting. I'm just happy to be performing." Fans seem to be as well. His last show in Boston was sold out hours before show time.

"There was a line out the door and down the street," Dee says. "There were people waiting to get in for an hour and a half. It blew my mind."

If "Bittersweet Batch" is any indication, Jesse Dee's gonna return the favor again and again and again.

Jesse Dee

High Fidelity, 170 East Ave

Saturday, October 4

8 p.m. | $7 | 325-6490, jessedee.com