Laura Mvula

The albums was supposed to come out May 6, but it was pushed back to June...which is, frankly, unacceptable. Why? Because I want to hear it!

Out today. Absolutely a joy to listen. Quite beautiful in places, smile-inducing in others.

Feels really short. Nine tracks, right?

It is compact. (Like more albums should be)

thread title makes me think of seinfeld

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgHWQipby8

This is a lot better than her debut. The production is really outstanding.

flopson otm

Oh wow. Isn't this lovely? Bread, Show Me Love, and Angel are early favourites.

"Let Me Fall" is maybe my favourite of the newer ones. She has a real gift for layered vocal arrangements - someone I think on TSJ I think noted how her music sometimes has almost a medieval quality

i like the compactness too - this and the ngaiire album are the perfect length

something's happening. she did a virtual concert this week and performed a few new songs, as well as some older ones that were dramatically reworked.

the older tracks and a cover of diana ross' "i'm still waiting" have been uploaded for streaming here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RScMtd6wUo

she's been working with dann hume, tkay maidza's producer. i'm excited!

I am too. These new reinterpretations are rad.

Also! Azana - Ingoma

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/seinfeld/images/2/26/Mulva.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120922010757

The Dreaming Room was one of my favorite records from that year. Excited to hear this!

I was thinking the other day how she seemed to have been inactive for a while, this is good

iirc things got nasty between her and the record label

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt0w1LDMlqc
New single "Safe Passage"

hmmm

this is a bit too cliched-80s for my liking. doubtless you'll all go apeshit. where's Brad

i mean it's got some lovely melodies and all but the sound is so...it's so what I said

Sony dropped her in 2017, I'm sure that slowed things down

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/laura-mvula-record-label-sony-dropped-email-a7641066.html

This is nice, but there's not much of a song beneath it.

Making 80s music at a time other than the 80s is a perfectly credible and legitimate thing to do and I'm tired of people pretending it isn't. Nobody ever complains about jazz sounding "too 50s" or house music sounding "too 90s." It's a choice and it's a valid one.

I'm mostly glad a bunch of people it appeals to actually frequent this place. It's one of the reasons I stay.

I mean, quit looking at it as pastiche and nostalgia mining and start looking at it as making new art with an established tool box.

Her voice is as incredible as its always been and despite the 80's production it's still undeniably her and has distinct elements of her style. I like the single, but it doesn't have a well defined hook, which is what I think the criticism is over.

I also don't get the 80's dissing. Musicians have been riffing on retro styles since there was music to be remembered. Should we jump on Todd Rundgren for copping the sound of 50's rock and 60's soul in the early 70's?

I mean, quit looking at it as pastiche and nostalgia mining and start looking at it as making new art with an established tool box.

otfm

'new'

it's not that this is mining the 80s, it's the degree to which it sounds like a direct unaltered copy

http://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A17LM3kHXuL._SS500_.jpg

Album out in July, second song "Church Girl" out today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHdIqqUZLoM

I really can't get enough of this chorus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-I5jF1fDcw

A (Google-sponsored?) dance video and remix by Dmitri from Paris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cHh2EAupZ0

And, for completeness, the Romare remix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cdwxB7AM3o

came here to post that Romare remix, it’s fantastic

...and it isolates that chorus to mantra-like effect!

xps to JF

"got me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD7LMNCLbwA

Love this one too. What struck me most is there are some chord voicings/progressions in this song that no one has used since 1986 and lordy I've missed them. If you're going to use this toolbox, as I've alluded to upthread, use all the tools.

A video for got me, which is just as 80s as the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJohzGzstag

latest single is a duet with the lead singer of biffy clyro (not as awful as that proposition might seem):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rX3TFjduDw

Listening to the whole album now. There's some variety here, but dynamically the parts that are meant to be quieter are still not quiet enough. Possibly a combination of a powerful singer and a producer afraid to go easy. Good, could've been better.

I’m finding it immensely fun though I can sense the “pastiche” critiques will come thick and fast.

I'm in on the "immensely fun" thing. I love it most when it reminds me of the Parachute Club album.

this is good but why does the guy from biffy clyro show up lmao