Grammy award winning artist Esperanza Spalding recently had her Emily's D+Evolution tour and yesterday the album performed on the tour released. This project is more experimental as it is heavily rock influenced with very few jazz productions throughout. Before this release she dropped singles for "One", "Good Lava" and "Earth to Heaven" and the first two mentioned were my introduction to this album. "One" makes good use of guitars and bass, creating a pleasant sound that instills excitement. Esperanza's vocals on the track also accompany the production well, "Good Lava" on the other hand, has a few problems. The melody is truncated and while Esperanza has a great singing voice, it makes her sound sub par with the harmony. These are actually problems with the majority of this album. None of the melodies are particular catchy and there is an odd choice in vocals in "Ebony and Ivy". I did find "Rest in Pleasure" to be decent, but it never hits good status for me. There is a semblance of her Jazz roots in "Farewell Dolly", but the song is short and fails to make any impression making it just forgettable.
This is her first album trying something different and it didn't quite hit any good marks. Esperanza has put out incredible albums in the past so I'll keep on the lookout for more music from her.
3.5/10
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