Hold On To Love
Self-Released, 2022
8/10
The Canadian artist Shakura S’Aida has been traveling the world for 20+ years, sharing her powerful voice with others, and this first new album in a decade features collaborations from names like Eric Gales, Lee Oskar, Terra Lightfoot and others.
The title track gets the listen off to a soulful start, where S’Aida’s flowing voice is met with uplifting backing vocals and plenty of playful bass lines, and “Takin’ It To The Streets” follows with an intimate moment of sublime beauty thanks to the calm, rootsy spirit.
Further along, “You’re The One” enters gospel areas with the rich singing and emotive musicianship of warmth, while the jazz fueled “Too Late”, showcases singing and talking that are met with bouts of brass and stylish interplay.
“Don’t Wait For Me” and “Heart Of Gold” exit the listen, where the former is a calm, poetic album highlight of gentle beauty, and the latter has S’Aida putting a very cozy spin on the Neil Young classic with classic rock nods amid the eloquent vocals.
S’Aida has been picking up prestigious awards for decades now, and she’ll likely gain more with this rich, thoughtful and timeless body of work that meshes blues, rock and soul with much appeal.
Travels well with: Davis Hall & The Green Lanterns- Canboro Canborough; Blackburn Brothers- SoulFunkn’ Blues