As the first track on LA jazz singer and multi-intrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow’s 18th album, Almost Trendy could be read as a mission statement from an artist who works happily and prolifically in the fringes. While jazz seeps slowly back into the mainstream, Muldrow’s esoteric experimentations refuse to sit on-trend.
It makes sense for Muldrow, then, that after the release of perhaps her most accessible album ever – the R&B opus Overload, on Flying Lotus’s label Brainfeeder last year – she’s returned to her comfort zone (which is often firmly outside of the listener’s). Vweto II is a record of celestial instrumentals, forgoing her old-soul R&B vocal to instead focus on slow-burning, bass-driven hip-hop and G-funk-inspired synth noodling (see especially: Nate Dogg’s Eulogy). Darkness simmers beneath, as on the menacingly low-riding Emo Blues, but for the most part, the record hits like sunshine on your face.
Sprawling like a jam session, the record contains a kaleidoscopic blur of 1970s and 90s sonic references, through a 2050 filter. Across its 16 tracks, Muldrow deftly weaves the digital with the physical: on Old School Fonk, squelchy bass faces off with feathery, ASMR melodies; Big Mama Africa Jam is a pure sci-fi odyssey, and the uplifting single Brokenfolks provides a marching beat that strides confidently straight into futurist psychedia. Vweto II sits firmly outside of what’s trending: if you’re looking for a way to escape the present moment, it’s the perfect time warp to get lost inside.
