I first wrote about Lady Blackbird back in 2022. Her debut "Black Acid Soul" pretty much knocked me out. Then, after a few weeks of heavy rotation, I shelved it and forgot about it. Now, Marley Munroe is back with "Slang Spirituals" and I only just found out yesterday after catching up on my back issues of Mojo. The British mag has given Lady Blackbird's new one two honors. They've put the album at #20 on their Best 75 Records list and they're calling it the single best soul record of 2024. If I had known about "Slang Spirituals" a month ago, it would have been on my list, as well.
This record is nothing like the debut. "Black Acid Soul" conjured up the spirits of Nina Simone, Odetta and Ann Peebles over a cover heavy selection of tunes. It was a smokey, sexy and occasionally haunting beauty of a record. "Slang Spirituals," featuring almost all original material, is an uplifting and joy-filled collection with songs and production that will light up a room. You will hear Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, 70's Aretha, Philly Soul and more. This record is full of hooks, big choruses, and beautiful melodies.
Munroe's voice has a heartbreak quality to it, that somehow works on both the upbeat tracks as well as the ballads, and at no time during the record did I want to skip a track. The only reason I couldn't wait for it to end was so that I could put it right back on again.
Try these on for size and hopefully you'll dig the record as much as me and Mojo do.
5 comments:
Completely agree. A compelling, soulful album - one I played more than most last year. So looking forward to seeing her live in 4 weeks in Glasgow.
Completely off my radar too!
based on these 3 cuts, the album sounds like a winner. It'd be played on the trip back from L.A. Thanks for the heads up.
I'm a faithful Mojo reader and I can't recall them ever doing a feature on her. And I certainly did not catch the album ranking as one of the best of the year!
What I'm hearing though sounds special
I gave up reading MOJO ages ago ( too many glowing reviews for mediochrity). But I am impressed by this! Many thanks
Post a Comment