MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO BACKGROUND

Meshell Ndegeocello (born August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist. Her music incorporates funk, soul, hip hop, reggae, R&B, rock, and jazz. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, and has had ten career Grammy Award nominations. She is often credited for having “sparked the neo-soul movement.”

Ndegeocello was born Michelle Lynn Johnson in Berlin, Germany, to army lieutenant and saxophonist father Jacques Johnson and health care worker mother Helen. She was raised in Washington, D.C. where she attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Oxon Hill High School.

Named Michelle Lynn Johnson at birth, Ndegeocello has had numerous name changes. She adopted the surname Ndegeocello, which means “free like a bird”. Meshell Ndegeocello is pronounced Mee-shell N-deh-gay-o-chel-o - early pressings of PLANTATION LULLABIES were stickered with the instructions.

This album caught me off-guard, mainly because I’m not used to receiving records by female artists who take a radically different approach to their music.  However when I originally read, “Meshell Ndegeocello is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist. Her music incorporates funk, soul, hip hop, reggae, R&B, rock, and jazz”  it did cross my mind momentarily that she may be unusual… Maybe it was this that stopped me from immediately playing it, and allowing it to sit there patiently waiting to divulge its rather special contents.

A few days ago I pressed play on it and have continued to do so ever since. Vocally and emotionally, there are similarities to Sade, but that’s where the similarities stop because Meshell is an artist with high-adventure pumping through her musical veins. ‘Slaughter’ opens the record with reverse-loop sounds before the bass kicks in together with that great voice. For me, this is the beginning of a ‘total musical experience’ which includes strong melody and lyrics, superb instrumental arrangement and performances, deft changes of pace and one of the most compelling and original musical vibes I’ve heard in years. The very down-beat ‘Tie One On’ takes a simpler lyric and instrumental route, and I’m hooked by Meshell’s haunting and smouldering performance. Then the Bullet Train leaves from platform 1 with the rampant ‘Lola.’  In a record full of great songs, this one is a standout where instruments and vocal are given their own special space but combine like Ying and Yang to create a devestatingly fresh and exciting sound.

‘Hair Of The Dog’ is another smouldering and glacially-paced interlude before ‘Mass Transit’ hits the rails with its guitar rock backdrop and superb drum passages that travel in diverse directions - from clattering snares to profound bass and heartstopping improvisation. ‘White Girl’ is a prime example of how Meshell manages to mix various genres into a unique and devestating sonic experience. There’s jazz, blues, R&B, and god-knows what else in the mix, while vocals are used like a balancing act to provide meaning and direction. Awesome! Like a powerful bass vibe? Then the incredible ‘Love You Down’ is right down your strada.

Title track ‘Devil’s Halo’ is a deathly, downbeat intrumental interlude with a disciplined drum pattern and other instrumental sounds adding texture and mystery. ‘Bright Shiny Morning’ combines ‘conventional’ vocals and talking dialogue over its instrumental arrangement with, once again, drums playing a key role. What is so fascinating with this and other tracks is that there is always a tangible melody to take your hand and lead you through…

This record takes you to places so seldom visited by non-jazz musicians and confounds with its creative endeavour and emotional impact. ‘Die Young’ leaves little to the imagination with lyrics like “I’ll fuck you all night long…” trotted out with little vocal drama but with instruments providing the tense ambience. ‘Crying In Your Beer’ is the most conventional-sounding song here as Meshell communicates it’s sad and believable message about loneliness (”Don’t let me die alone…”).

If you have an ounce of imagination and adventure in your musical makeup, you need this record, and badly. To me, it’s nothing short of a revelation and one so badly needed in this more recent era of general artistic homogeneity. And nothing comes close in my experience in the communion of instruments and voice to deliver the powerful and dark messages contained herein. One word - WOW!

5/5