Cold Specks draws closer to R&B sound
COLD SPECKS “FOOL’S PARADISE” (ARTS AND CRAFTS)
A few years ago, I was working at a magazine that ran little music coverage. A freelancer had successfully pitched a story about struggles facing a new wave of female R&B voices out of Canada: Divine Brown, Melanie Fiona and Jully Black among them. The story started out by talking about Cold Specks, the musical project for a young woman who then called herself Al Spx, who possessed a powerful voice and played stark, haunting music she termed “doom soul.” Wait a minute, I asked the editor: why is Cold Specks in this article? Spx played slow, guitar-based music that has more in common with Nick Cave than Nicki Minaj. Is it because she’s black, one of the few African-Canadian women to have any kind of profile in this country’s music scene? Because otherwise, we’re talking about apples and oranges here.
Two albums and a couple of Polaris nods later, Cold Specks — who dropped the Al Spx pseudonym, and now goes by her birth name, Ladan Hussein — has indeed drawn closer to R&B, although “Fool’s Paradise” is more “Massive Attack” than Mary J. Blige. There are barely any guitars: synths and drum programming dominate. The background isn’t necessarily important: as always, it’s Hussein’s voice that draws you in first and foremost, but it does sound even better with some deep bass and beats behind it, situating her somewhere between Sade and Bjork (“Ancient Habits” borrows a bit from Bjork’s “All is Full of Love”), if either artist wrote almost exclusively in minor keys. Hussein also slips into Somali on the title track, acknowledging a family history she once felt she had to mask to make it in the Canadian music industry.
If third albums are where an artist really proves themselves — after the potential fluke of a debut, and the transition of a second album — then Cold Specks has most definitely stepped up. The songs are strong, the setting is right, and she’s evolving easily. There’s nothing remotely foolish about “Fool’s Paradise.”
Stream: “Fool’s Paradise,” “Wild Card,” “Rupture”
Stream: “The Neighbour,” “Falling Asleep,” “Everyone You Meet”
TRIO DA KALI AND KRONOS QUARTET “LADILIKAN” (WORLD CIRCUIT)
No one can be expected to keep up with everything the Kronos Quartet does, but every so often one of their cross-cultural collaborations simply can’t be ignored, like their 2000 album “Caravan,” or their 2005 collaboration with Bollywood star Asha Bhosle. This is one of them. Trio Da Kali are a Malian trio comprised of just a female vocalist, a guy who plays the bass ngoni (a string instrument), and a guy who plays the marimba-like balafon. The two instruments provide both harmony and bottom end underneath singer Hawa Kassé Mady Diabate, creating a full and rich sound even before the strings come in. Diabate is a strong, calm voice whose melodies stay steady while the balafon dances and skitters underneath. In everything they do, Kronos are extremely sympathetic players: they’re not there to hog any kind of spotlight, or to impose Western musical traditions to wherever they’re visiting. They’re there to embellish and illuminate but generally stay out of the way whenever possible — which is exactly the case here.
Stream: “Kanimba,” “Lila Bambo,” “Ladilikan”
THE CLIENTELE “MUSIC FOR THE AGE OF MIRACLES” (MERGE)
As much as there is to recommend about this recently resurrected British band, all their records sound exactly the same: wispy, mid-tempo music that sounds like it was made by Belle & Sebastian’s sadder and somewhat aloof cousins. Singer-songwriter Alasdair MacLean weaves beautiful, folk-influenced guitar lines over supple bass lines from James Hornsey and a delicate touch from drummer Mark Keen. The arrangements are designed for daydreaming, cloud-watching — but not heavy lifting (one song is actually called “Falling Asleep”). One can’t fault a band with chemistry like this for being very good at one thing and running with it, and this is as good or better than anything else they’ve done, perhaps because a seven-year hiatus has them bringing their best game.