Jamila Woods

I like this album. The songs don't all stand out from each other, but it has a nice flow.

this album is even better than i thought

^^^ it is also better than I thought

It's my album of the year so far.

It took a while, namely a road trip in late July. I admire how each glimpse into one of her antecedents/muses/agonists uses a different rhythm; the album is, to quote Brian Eno, a sea of permuation.

*permutation

Playing this on a good stereo at work today really opened up how great this album is. The production is gorgeous.

It's my album of the year so far.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, September 8, 2019 9:38 AM

This, saadiq and brittany howard are right up there

we got new music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LzR2lCl8VQ

Focusing on Morrison's depiction of the relationship between Sula Peace and Nel Wright, Woods finds freedom of spirit in its text. "It's the first Toni Morisson novel I ever read and it inspired the first chapbook of poems I ever wrote," says Woods. "The novel shows the evolution of a friendship between two Black women and how they choose to navigate society's strict gender roles and rules of respectability. On Sula, Toni Morrison wrote, 'living totally by the law and surrendering totally to it without questioning anything sometimes makes it impossible to know anything about yourself.' Returning to the story several years later, it gave me permission to reject confining ideas about my identity designed to shrink my spirit. It reminded me to embrace my tenderness, my sensitivities, my ways of being in my body. This song is a mantra to allow myself space to experience my gender, love, intimacy, and sexuality on my own terms."

I'm a little surprised she's still on Jagjaguwar! nothing against them but she's got so much polish. this song is of course totally lovely.

lovely, very reminiscent of raveena

yes, this is beautiful

Nice guitar

had somehow never listened to this, but it’s wonderful.

especially loving the vibe of the Hardcover version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dW9YIsxzQU

Nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIh2FWgusMU

On her album I generally preferred the music to her singing (not that I didn't enjoy the vocals) but on that clip it's vice versa

new song, lovely as always

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPd1cB2yy4o

Lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6G9eEZtpxY

love this

so excited to have a new full-length from her

This is insanely good! ILHSM

beautiful! love the layering of the vocals

Also excited, I was wondering when she'd come back. Sounds warmer and more nimble than the previous project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qu2Aq1FusU

"Tiny Garden" is my most played song of the last month.

Wisdom. Album on preorder and very much looking forward.

Both of these are really good.

It's a fabulous album.

yeah "tiny garden" is one of the best songs of the year

Love the new album on first listen, though I've been a bit slack in keeping up with her this year and have realised that most of the tracks I really liked were released as singles beforehand.

Ooh she's touring with Kara Jackson -- definitely going to get tix

It took a couple days to adjust from the political to the romantic, but she has a talent for the extended conceit: backburners, wreckage rooms, boomerangs.

it's a good album but nothing is quite as strong as "tiny garden" and it ends up feeling a bit overly saccharine all together

Agree with that though I think "Practice" is up there and "Headfirst" is a great closer.

Alfred OTM about her dab hand with a metaphor - the whole thing also works very well as a concept album (pretty much all of it is an expansion/exploration of the basic idea expressed by "Tiny Garden").

not sure how i missed "tiny garden" when it came out, but everyone is otm about it being one of the best songs of the year. am i off base in feeling some peter gabriel vibes?

It's better than Gabriel.

Ooh she's touring with Kara Jackson -- definitely going to get tix

Hell that's a combo right there, I should check on a show around here.

It took a couple days to adjust from the political to the romantic, but she has a talent for the extended conceit: backburners, wreckage rooms, boomerangs.
― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, October 17, 2023 4:46 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Haha, I really thought for a moment those were creative descriptions of the type of songs she's good at. And you know, it could have been. I'm really entering this album tonight and it's comfy, part spinning part coolly surveying everything that surround us. It's coherent sonically but also sizzling with ideas, in a way that reminds me of the last Sudan Archives, though more polished and less wild.

And I agree Tiny Garden is a year highlight

so is "Boomerang," particularly the counter-vocal in the chorus.

I just think lyrically she approaches a simple and overused topic, ie that four-letter-word love, with the same invigorating approach she applies to other, weightier, more complex themes on the first two albums, and atomises the subject and pulls every element apart and delivers a really thorough and humane and interior and empathetic treatise on A Relationship, where she can understand and sympathise with the junk that's making the lover behave badly and even raise a hand, while at the same time stating it is not right and it is not to be tolerated. I'm thinking particularly Send A Dove in this regard. Also, it really reminds me of Miseducation in some ways, maybe the interstitial spoken-word parts, the skits, which I don't entirely think work and would skip if I could, but do, on the first few spins at least, estabilsh some enlightening, expanding context.

^ otm

Finally saw her live. In DC at the Howard Theatre. Sadly some folks were busy chatting loud, and her voice and the way it was mic'ed and heard there wasn't always powerful enough to overcome the noise of folks who can't stop talking. I still think she's pretty good, and enjoyed her singing and her between songs talk about relationships, Sudan, Palestine

Seeing her Friday. Did Kara Jackson perform? She was on the bill when I bought the tix but now seems to have been replaced :/

No. Forgot the name of the opener. It was African sounding but she was very American folkie sounding.

Opener was Uwade.

Show was solid. She had a very welcome crowd in Chicago, which made it a great atmosphere. Unfortunately the mix was quite bad for most the night; her voice is so thin and it was barely audible at times. Meanwhile the bass drum was turned wayyyy up for some reason. Nevertheless I really enjoyed hearing the new album’s songs live. It is her most accessible and straightforward, and everything translated really well. Highlight was a cover of Paramore’s “That’s What You Get.” She also slipped into Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” at one point; can’t recall if that’s from HEAVN? She has a lovely and giving vibe and presence, talking openly about her personal growth and the lessons that inspired her writing. I was very glad she performed “I Miss All My Exes” which is one of my favorite moments on the album and maybe the best example of her unique talents.

Sounds like a similar set to DC. Drum was high in the mix here also, and they had a glass partition around the drummer (which should have been a sign to mix her vocals louder).