Jah’Mila flexes soothing vocals and smooth roots reggae sound in “Woman of the Sun”
It’s always a pleasure to be introduced to new artists. It’s even better when the talent is overwhelmingly dope as is the case with Kingston born and bred Jah’Mila.
The daughter of legendary reggae session guitarist Earl “Chinna” Smith has released her second album entitled Woman of the Sun. Afterall, some of the most legendary reggae chunes ever are from women, Phyllis Dillon, Marcia Griffiths, Rita Marley, to name just a few.
From the very first note of the title track, a smile crossed my face as it was obvious, she has a voice BUILT for reggae music.
Soothing, and deliberate, she rides the smooth roots offering, squandering not one note.
Ah! But before you can even anticipate what’s next, she wastes no time reaching into her bag of tricks flexing a fine chat style on the aptly titled second track, Reggae Nah Dead.
There is definitely something to be said for the musical influences Jah’Mila was blessed to have grown up with via her father’s God-level resume. As a result the production on Woman of the Sun is nothing short of amazing, deftly balancing a classic roots sound (Slow Down, We Got Love) while dabbling at times in a more modernistic, almost UK soul style of musicality made popular by groups like Incognito and the Brand New Heavies.
Take a gander of the tracks Beloved, and Déjà Vu and see if you can hear the influence. Perhaps this can be attributed to her relocating to Nova Scotia from Jamaica to take up residence there. Regardless of where she is drawing her inspiration from, it works wonders for her and has given her the ability to craft one of the most interesting reggae albums I’ve heard in quite some time.
By the time she closed the proceedings out with the anthemic Never Fail, I considered myself a new fan.
By Yankee Nupe.
