Daily Reggae Album Review: Groundation plays from the heart with jazz-infused roots album "One Rock"

Photo courtesy of Easy Star Records. Photo credit: Carla Henriques

Since its inception in 1999, Groundation has brought to the reggae community an immense catalogue of quality recorded music that blends genuine and heartfelt roots reggae with jazz influenced compositions and instrumental performances. As is the case for many of the albums we have reviewed thus far, Groundation's wonderful new album "One Rock" was born from the fires of the pandemic.

With the world undergoing rapid change and uncertainty, and the unique effect it had on musicians who could no longer tour and were now locked inside to ponder the world and their music, the albums incepted during this time period have been both reflective and supremely creative. In the reggae community the consequences of the pandemic were then compounded by the loss of many of the genre's legends and pioneers. Groundation's frontman Harrison Stafford said of "One Rock", "A lot of the album was inspired by the pandemic. The idea to focus the album's featuring on the elders was a direct reflection of having lost so many of our reggae icons through this time of isolation. Then also through this COVID-19 time you have the lyrical themes of greed and corruption within our ruling class as well as songs relating to the raw divisiveness of our world today. The concept behind the album ONE ROCK is one that reflects reality and looks directly at this post-pandemic, megalomanic world and our lack of ability to come together to focus on the real issues that face humanity." This inspiration permeates through all of the tracks on "One Rock", and as result us fans have been given a wonderfully crafted album that is a joy to listen to.

Head over to the Daily Reggae Album Reviews page to read our full review.

"Market Price" by Groundation is the Daily Reggae Song of the Day.