Welcome to Episode 66 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month David brings Neo-Soul back into focus with Jill Scott and her comeback album 'To Whom This May Concern.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is 'Neo-Soul, and it's a belter. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Jill Scott | To Who This May Concern ——Jill Scott's debut was released in 2000, it played a big part in some of our lives. But most of us lost touch after this release. It's 26 years later and Jill has been through some shit.This album is big, it's a lot. There is a lot to take in digest and consider. It works big time for some of us … not so much for others. Have a listen, let's get into this!Listen to the original album here.Tiny Desk concerts are getting better and better, here is Jill's.Watch some videos, interviews and performances here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music —————- The theme is Neo-Soul, the task is pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick for tracks for a 16 track play list (that is fire).We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Guy chose 'Heard it all Before' by Sunshine Anderson.Nolan chose 'Serve this Royalty' by Cody Chesnutt.David chose 'Don't Mess with My Man' by Lucy Pearl.Joey chose 'Untitled (How Does It Feel) by D'Angelo.We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Welcome to Episode 66 of This Is Not Happening.An Album of the Month podcast.
In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month David brings Neo-Soul back into focus with Jill Scott and her comeback album ‘To Whom This May Concern.
In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is ‘Neo-Soul, and it’s a belter.
—— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Jill Scott | To Who This May Concern ——
Jill Scott’s debut was released in 2000, it played a big part in some of our lives. But most of us lost touch after this release. It’s 26 years later and Jill has been through some shit.
This album is big, it’s a lot. There is a lot to take in digest and consider. It works big time for some of us … not so much for others. Have a listen, let’s get into this!
Tiny Desk concerts are getting better and better, here is Jill’s.
Watch some videos, interviews and performances here.
—————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music —————-
The theme is Neo-Soul, the task is pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more ‘spins’ than your friends. We each pick for tracks for a 16 track play list (that is fire).
We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question ‘Spin It Or Bin It’?
Eliza, formerly known as Eliza Doolittle has done a lot. She’s been signed since 2008 but has been performing for ever by the looks of it. It seems inevitable that this would be the case. Her mum is a Tony Award winning Musical Theatre performer and represented the UK in 1994 Eurovision Contest. Eliza is also the Grand Daughter of Sylvia Young of the eponymous Theatre School.
So she’s been on a journey – The Darkening Green is her 5th Studio Album across her two identities, the ‘Doolittle’ was shed back in 2017 where it looks like she adopted a more mature approach. My history with her is non existent. The algorithms were insistent that I listen to the Single ‘Cheddar’ in February and as usual, the algo was right, I loved it, nearly chose it as my Spin It track last month, did chose it in my 4 track shortlist. So when the album dropped on 6th March I was straight in.
The album is short, it is only 9 tracks and 35 minutes long. This goes against the recent trend of what I often feel are bloated albums with poor decision making on what should and shouldn’t be included. I am very happy about this. At this point in the year, in my current mood, I want a short, tight and direct album and this is exactly what we’ve been given.
Thematically the album is about love, relationships, the pressure of modern life, nature, city life and the connections between these. However, the songs manage to blend these themes into one, feeling or mood regardless of the specific theme. The album was finished a week or so before Eliza became a mother. I think I can hear the calm contemplation of impending parenthood? In interviews she talks about flowers being strong enough to push up between concrete, a visual that is captured on the cover, this feels like over arching theme.
Genre-wise … what is this? Let’s do a quick genre-roll-call; R&B / Alt-R&B / Soul / Pop / Sophisti-Pop / Neo Soul / Indie-Soul / Chamber-Soul is a new one that I came across when researching this /
I have looked into critics (and this album has not been widely reviewed) and listeners reviews to look at how they describe this and there is very little consistency. I am tempted to return to my on running joke sub-genre title ‘Soul Driven Sophisti-Pop’ … cause that’s exactly what it is. We can call it Soul. I’m happy with R&B but that has become close to meaningless. What ever we call it, I do think there is something particularly British about this album? I am not sure I can imagine an American Artist creating this? As we discussed last month, Neo-Soul in my mind at least, is an American genre and of a specific time (late 90’s / early 00’s). I can’t think of any any British artists that I would describe as Neo-Soul but this album has been described as Neo Soul. Go figure.
Stylistically speaking, it’s very tightly produced, razor sharp, crisp, clean and bone dry! There is nothing remotely moist about any track on this album. It’s relatively sparsely instrumented soul music. There is a lot of space, bone-dry-air in the production. This type of production can sound clinical and lacking emotion and I would understand someone who didn’t like this using that kind of language. There is a degree of separation of presentation that is undeniable but there is a lot of vocal warmth even when singing some of the most withering lyrics.
The album feels very coherent, a collection of tracks written, rehearsed and recorded as one. I am not sure if this is the case? But it feels like that. It feels like it captures a feeling of a certain time and mood. There are 2 producers but the end product is beautifully consistent. There are deep grooves (Cheddar), funky up tempo tracks (Pleasure Boy) and slower jams (Major) but they all feel like the blend and weave together into a coherent sound.
There are moments when these tracks sound like Prince, on Spiral there is a definite sound of Billie Eilish, there’s 80’s soul pop moments that remind me of many artists, on some tracks I hear guitars played in a similar manner to Nilifur Yanya (Because We Can). I am sure you can all name numerous other artists that you hear? However, I think she never sounds like any other single artist though, she’s distilled the last 40 years of Soulful R&B pop into 35 mins which is pretty impressive.
The bass guitar does a lot of work on this album, as does the rim shot! The percussion is sparse, but perfectly so. Is there a single cymbal other than a hit hat very low in the mix? We’ve commented recently on guitar focused R&B albums and this is another one. Given the sparsity of the instrumentation there is a fair amount of complexity in the guitar parts which feels quite focused (again a nod or similarity to Nilifur?
I am loving the simplicity and quality of this album. It is what I want at the moment. Will it work for your guys?
Jill Scott is deeply entwined in my life, but at the same time, I probably haven’t listened to her much in years. Her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott? dropped in 2000, on the cusp of a new millennium, and became an instant classic in what became known as Neo-soul. Like a lot of genre, it’s a nefarious business trying to pin down what makes something Neo-soul as opposed to R&B or soul, but it definitely leans into an organic sound – real instruments, live drums, and strong, powerful vocal performances. Philadelphia obviously has an extraordinarily rich history in soul music, and Scott became the latest on a long line of legends from that city to pick up the baton and run with it into a new era.
Right from the off, she created a sensual, rich sound full of tight performances and expansive songwriting, and that’s before we even get to that voice. She has a unique ability to sound sexy, authoritative, contemplative, in your face, gentle. She can sing, she can rap, she can sound like spoken word poetry. She’s the real deal and she quickly found herself at the top of the true alongside the likes of Erykah Badu and D’Angelo.
And then onto my own personal with this music. I had just got together with Caroline the year before – and indeed had just met Joey at the same time, and this genre was the so much the part of those years. I can think of scores of soul and R&B albums we all rinsed to death at that time – Lucy Pearl, Raphael Saadiq, Maxwell. And Jill Scott. They felt politically conscious very much like the Native Tongues hip hop of a decade previously, big on Afrocentricism and positivity. It was optimistic music. And I want to come back to that point.
Those first two Jill Scott albums I loved so hard. I don’t know why, but they just spoke to me and they soundtracked our early relationship. But like a lot of artists, she kind of fell of my radar a bit. I remember spinning her Woman album in 2015 a few times and thinking – yeah, I’ve heard this before, nothing new here. That was her last album. It’s been ten years.
So this could go one of two ways. It could be a tired old retread. Or it could be a revelatory return to form. I’d seen some preview reviews that suggested this might be the latter. And boy, they are not fucking kidding. I cannot believe how much I love this record.
Firstly, let’s get some housekeeping out the way. It’s not a short album. It’s 19 songs and 58 minutes. But personally, I have never had something slip down so easily. She sounds energised, excited to be making music, and so fucking cool. There’s an incredible array of genres on here – slow jams (Pressha, Beautiful People), hip hop (Norf Side, a real highlight for me), Afrobeat grooves (BPOTY), club friendly dance tunes (Right Here, Right Now). The whole thing is a total tour de force.
I know everyone is having their own journey here, so let me raise a couple of things that are worth considering. One is this – let’s be honest, this album could been made in 2002. It is not rewriting the history books, it’s just very, very good at what it is. But what it is is a very positive record, it’s a 53 year old woman rediscovering her joy at making music after a long gap. But it’s also full of that early 00s positivity vibe. I guess I’m wondering – does that feel a bit out of place in our fucked up, bleak world right now? For me, it’s just giving me life. But maybe it doesn’t quite for everyone…
The other factor is that this is plugging into my past and probably even my relationship with Caroline. Remove that and does it mean so much to the average listener? Perhaps not.
Anyway, this is the first record I’ve heard this year that could be in my top 10. But that’s just me. Over to you, brothers…
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