Its exceedingly rare to listen to a whole album and discover that every single track on the album is a gem, but thats what you get with Lizz Wright's 3rd album. I cant even qualify that statement as I have all three of her albums and her previous two albums, Salt and Dreaming Wide Awake were masterpieces in their own right. Its impossible to really pigeonhole Lizz Wright as her music is neither truly R&B, jazz, gospel or blues but rather a heady, intoxicating mix. What you do get is an artist who truly deserves every accolade and recognition due to her (but which sadly she probably will never as her music is not considered mainstream enough for the uneducated masses). The album kicks off with the bluesy, spiritual yearning of "Coming Home", moving into the flamenco tinged contemporary soul of "My Heart" a song about a lover's aching desperation perfectly captured by the urgent, pleading chorus repeated over and over towards the end. With a voice as good as hers, the production cleverly allows her voice to take centrestage and instrumentation is kept bare. Songs like "Hey Mann" and "Song for Mia" illustrate this minimalist approach and draw the listener in due to the inherent intimacy of the settings of the songs.
This is Norah Jones with more substance, Joss Stone with more vocal discipline and a tribute to the heartwrenching, intimate, sultry and seductive music Lizz Wright has created. An amazingly talented vocalist and arguably THE album of the year for me.
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