Leila Adu is a composer/singer who doesn’t take her music lightly. Her background, hailing from New Zealand and Ghana (but born in London), filters into her music that transcends genres – it is music that combines the sensibility of singer/songwriters with everything from modern classical to electro-pop.
With many artists trying to combine a variety of musical strands, there is always a danger that they will try to grasp too many things at one time, only scratching the surface.
Yet, on Moonstone & Tar Sands, Leila Adu doesn’t seem to have that problem, she not only has a full grasp of all the musical elements she is trying to include in her compositions but also to do so takes a full sense out of it.
With her rhythm section (Jon Toscano, bass and David Frazier bass) and also collaborating here with PUBLIQuartet (who actually turn out to be a quintet), it is Adu’s excellent voice and piano playing that lead the way, but above all, it is her intricate compositional capabilities that make the music her, as complex as it is, sound fluid and flowing and so easy on the ear.
As she aptly puts it, “I waited years to record some of the songs on this album, because I was waiting for the right feel, the right band. The rhythm section moves through Wonderesque funk, rock, ska, and bossa, while PUBLIQuartet quartet adds luscious layers of warmth and gravitas — at times moving as one voice, at times bringing shimmering solos, gliding above and below the group.”
And that is exactly how Leila Adu’s music sounds here on Moonstone & Tar Sands.
