NENEH CHERRY

Broken Politics SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND 8/10 Intimate, engaged fifth LP from “Buffalo Stance” diva

The music that Neneh Cherry has made in the last decade may be at least as innovative and powerful as that she made back in the ’80s. Recorded in Woodstock with partner Cameron McVey and Kieran ‘Four Tet’ Hebden, Broken Politics is a thoughtful, reflective record that twines the political and the personal. “Shotgun Shack” muses on gun violence, while “Kong” – written with 3D of Massive Attack – addresses the refugee camps of Calais. But Cherry’s writing is never polemic or didactic, and filled with warmth and empathy, while Hebden’s production shines throughout, particularly on the fragile, shuffling “Fallen Leaves”.