You know those movies you “once saw on a plane”? I got caught up in Why Did I Get Married? on a flight once – a trainwreck of a film starring Janet Jackson and Jill Scott. That was the last I’d heard of Scott since her 2007 album The Real Thing: Words And Sounds Vol. 3, and The Light of the Sun is the first of her albums outside the Words And Sounds genus. Apart from a bad choice in film roles, Scott has had a baby and endured a break-up with her former drummer and baby daddy since the last album fertile songwriting grounds for a soul singer.
Scott insightfully explores heartbreak on Quick, gets into some awkward sex talk on Until Then (I Imagine) – “I imagine myself on my knees/when I need to feel sexy” and of course, vouches for female empowerment with Eve on Shame. She mostly hits the mark lyrically, but it’s the fuller, funkier tracks like Le BOOM Vent Suite that give them an environment to thrive. My gripe is that it was released in winter in Australia – the album hit number one in the States and would provide a good addition to the coming summer soundtracks.
Best Track: Le BOOM Vent Suite
If You Like These, You’ll Like: New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) ERYKAH BADU, Let Freedom Reign CHRISETTE MICHELE
In A Word: Soulful
