George HaffendenBest known in the UK for her stellar performances with Brit-Funk legends Incognito, Maysa Leak has just released her new album Back To Love on the Shanachie label. Maysa is one of the most dynamic soul singers in the business; it’s her voice on Incognito’s cover of ‘Don’t You Worry About A Thing’, and it has been twenty years since the release of her first solo album, Maysa. Since then she’s reunited with Incognito on several occasions, as well as releasing several well-received albums. Now, to mark this career landmark as twenty years as a solo recording artist, Maysa has released another excellent album in Back To Love.
The album is a right mix of genres and styles, demonstrating that Maysa is a versatile singer and performer. Back To Love gets off to a brilliant start with the dance-beat of the title track; the song is slightly different from the more jazz-soul of her previous albums, but the dance feel suits her voice well, proving her ability to transcend musical boundaries (a remix is included on the album which ups the tempo slightly more, best suited perhaps to the clubs rather than the iPod). ‘Miracle’ continues in a similar vein, adopting a dance-infused beat with a particularly catchy lyric that would not sound out of place in the Donna Summer songbook.
For those fans of Maysa expecting to hear some more mid-tempo, romantic grooves in her more traditional soul-jazz style do not fear, she more than delivers. ‘Heavenly Voices’ is a brilliantly delicious ballad that Maysa delivers with her trademark sultriness soul-jazz style. In fact, it’s probably the most beautiful song on the album. ‘Go Away Little Boy’ is another quintessential Maysa recording, with her jazzy vocals complimented by the R&B groove; Maysa’s vocals on this track are stunning, her phrasing is unmatched by most female singers today.
One of the highlights of Back To Love is Maysa’s collaborations with the great soul balladeer Phil Perry, and Stokley Williams of the R&B group Mint Condition, both individuals that Maysa has not previously recorded with. Sometimes these sorts of high-profile collaborations promise a lot but fail to deliver (think Dionne Warwick’s latest duets CD), but thankfully that is not the case with Back To Love. Maysa’s duet with Stokley Williams is a prime slab of neo-soul groove: Williams is in fine voice, and produces the track superbly. His vocal is reminiscent somewhat of a Raphael Saadiq groove, and his soft style provides an interesting counter to Maysa’s rich, powerful voice (check out the video below!). Similarly, the duet with Phil Perry is equally inspired. Perry is again in fine voice (check out his new album A Better Man here), demonstrating that he is at his best singing on romantic songs.
Back To Love has shown that after twenty years as a solo artist, Maysa remains at the top of her game. Her voice remains as strong and delightful as ever, and she handles this new, more dance-orientated material excellently, giving her a new dimension that her fans have not really heard from her before outside of her work with Incognito. Back To Love is already gaining wide appreciation, debuting at number nine on the iTunes R&B Chart as well as number two on the Jazz Chart. With stats like these, it’s clear that Maysa has produced one of the best albums of the year so far.
Back To Love is out on Shanachie Entertainment now, and is available on iTunes and Amazon, as well as Spotify.