Friday, February 10, 2017

Band Review: Solange


Solange is from the recommended list, but I can't give credit to one person for that. So many people have praised her and exclaimed over her - especially since the release of A Seat at the Table - that I had to listen more.

And I am more out of my depth than usual, so I may ramble. I care about getting it right, and am more concerned about my ability to do so. I did do more research.

One thing that I believe helped was reading a little bit about Arthur Jafa's contribution as the director of photography on the videos. As I watched them I paid more attention to the color schemes and the structures and movements, and the pink foam coat in "Cranes in the Sky". The tableux are helped by the striking settings. Together they call to mind sculptures and carvings and bas relief - there is such a sense of the space and how the figures occupy it. That visual awareness has also been an element of Solange's choreography even in earlier albums.

That conscious emphasis on structure is also present on the album. There are so many interludes, and I think of that as more of a hip hop thing, but it works here.

It initially surprised me to hear so many male voices, coupled with the mildness in tone of so many of the songs. Even when the tracks are not specifically about anger, they are about things where anger is reasonable. And even though one of the tracks is literally called "Mad", the strongest impressions are gentleness and love. There is sorrow and endurance and deep strength.

In that way I feel the album takes the anger and transcends it by giving all of those voices their chance to express and testify. It becomes beautiful - not the racists throwing things at children or people touching your hair; that remains ugly. The beauty is the embrace that results as Solange reaches out and enfolds their experiences and elevates them. That is beautiful.

Musically I respond more to the True EP, and there's nothing wrong with that. While it is not as ambitious as A Seat at the Table, there are some lovely complexities in the music, and the same deliberate consideration of all sounds and images in the videos. That is a constant of Knowles from everything I have seen and heard. Still, A Seat at the Table is something more.

I know I am missing layers. I can envision a college course structured after the album, using different tracks as launching points for exploring the Black experience. There is substance here, and who wouldn't like taking a class from Professor Knowles?

It is completely reasonable that the genesis for this particular project comes from white music critics getting offended at something Solange said and trying to put her back in her place.


I need to respond to that. There is a lot of weighted history there with advising Black women to be grateful and silent and assuming they are missing information (like who their listeners are); I hope that is recognized for what it is. I have feelings about music writing, though, and that's what I need to address.

Advising that critics who write about R&B should know about Brandi has nothing to do with the racial makeup of an audience. Fans can enjoy music instinctively or blindly or with a deep appreciation, and everywhere in between. Some artists try hard to please a larger demographic, some stick to a unique vision and will question popularity as a sign that something went wrong, and again, everything in between. That's a completely separate issue from what critics should know.

Saying that a good understanding of R&B should require familiarity with Brandi is a helpful hint. It's a reasonable thing; you are paid for your writing on music, so it is reasonable to expect you to know something. That should help you write more informed pieces. Listening to some artists helps you understand some things better. Maybe they were crucial to the evolution, or they interpret it in a unique way, but you get insight and that can infuse your articles.

Getting offended by that is a petty and ridiculous thing. That it happened to someone who clearly thinks so deeply over everything... I guess that makes sense in an unfortunate way.

The logical and satisfying result of that is that she turned it into inspiration, raised up voices who were saying something worth listening to, and then sells some records and gets a Grammy nomination.



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