Rating: NNNN
After clocking six years as a member of R&B groups Danity Kane and Diddy-Dirty Money, Dawn Richard left the major label world to make her way in R&B as an indie artist. Her timing couldn’t be better: with acts like the Weeknd and Miguel exploring misanthropy and vulnerability in the male psyche, it was about time a melismatic R&B diva took a similarly adventurous direction.
Interestingly, the New Orleans native doesn’t shy away from the kind of effusive dance tempos typically blamed for sucking the soul out of R&B. But she makes them her own. This debut album builds on the muscular sound of last year’s gorgeous Armor On EP with tribal, second-line-style drumming, jazzy piano and eerie pop ambience that recalls Peter Gabriel, an influence bluntly acknowledged on a clubby ode to his 80s ballad In Your Eyes.
Richard’s voice blends equal amounts of yearning and restraint it often sounds distant, as if her quavering timbre must overcome some voluminous chasm to reach us. While some of her melodies could be a bit more defined, she’s a nuanced enough performer to captivate at the most self-indulgent of times.
Top track: ’86
