Meshell Ndegeocello • Ventriloquism
The herky-jerky staccato guitar lines and polyrhythmic, gated drum tracks on the album’s opening treatment of "I Wonder If I Take You Home" are interspersed with melodic bass runs and ethereal, soul-tinged vocal choruses. Ndegeocello and her band retain the spirit of Lisa Lisa and The Cult Jam’s original version, but they liberate the track from its brittle and calculated 1980s production values. Ndegeocello’s husky contralto, the flourish of bass chords, and Chris Bruce’s shimmering electric-guitar figures are the perfect package for delivering Prince’s heartbreaking, slow-motion lyrics on "Sometimes It Snows in April." After barely a pause for breath, a delicate 12-string-acoustic-guitar line is used to carry Prince’s spirit and influence forward to the cover of TLC’s "Waterfalls." The merging of TLC’s swinging lilt with Ndegeocello’s low-key, multi-tracked Paisley Park vocals results in a mood that lends more depth and weight to the original composition. This is a band that truly understands the material it’s performing; Ventriloquism serves as a prime example of what interpreting another person’s music entails and how rewarding that endeavor can be. Ndegeocello says that these sessions were an attempt to
find a safe place during a difficult period of her life. Her effort to create a musical
refuge that celebrates the music she loves is successful and addictive. The sound
on this disc is warm and pillowy with just enough definition and punch to keep the groove
engaging. It’s not entirely surprising to learn that Ndegeocello and
keyboardist/producer Jebin Bruni were steeped in Neil Young’s Harvest while
they recorded these sessions, because the songs are carefully arranged and imbued with
expansive, cinematic touches. Pete Min mixed and mastered the album and deserves credit
for the recording’s well-balanced EQ. Bass heads and prog-rock fans should revel in
the subterranean depths of Ndegeocello’s muscular bass runs. All of this aids in
making Ventriloquism a sonically satisfying journey thorough 1980s and 1990s
musical landscapes you might have known but didn’t fully appreciate the first time
around. |
or the past 25 years, Meshell Ndegeocello has been on
a mission to defy categorization. Her 1993 debut, Plantation Lullabies, is
frequently cited as an important launch point for the neo-soul genre, and she says it has
been an uphill battle to avoid being branded by that particular musical label ever since.
Consequently, each of her subsequent albums has contained stylistic curve balls, and it
would be difficult to find a better example of someone breaking free of boundaries than
her latest effort, Ventriloquism. It’s not often that a covers album can be
called original, but the characterization is apt in this case.