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In the LinkedIn age, when accolades come a dime a dozen and often sound as fraudulent as they are, real bona fides mean that much more. So it’s nice to know that buzzed-about singer Tawiah comes with the stamp of approval of at least two impressive, taste-making names:
“To give you some background on her, she was requested personally by Mark Ronson to be the front woman and voice of his touring band for his 2007 worldwide tour, and her debut EP ‘In Jodi’s Bedroom’ which earned her Gilles Peterson’s Radio 1 Worldwide Award for Best Newcomer.“
Of course, a resume without the flesh and blood to back it up is simply a list of places, people, and positions. Luckily, Tawiah’s muscular soul-funk feels like the genuine artifact, an eclectic blend that immediately calls to mind Janelle Monae‘s work while leaving off a bit of the latter’s polish in favor of raw emotion.
The selection here is varied: “ONEmore” casts the singer as hypnotic and sultry, while she cuts the figure of rocking funkstress on the rollicking “SWEET me,” only to defy expectation on the loose, gorgeous “SEAlion.” FREEdom DROP is a remarkably full-feeling nine song set, a testament to the time-honored adage “quantity over quality.”
