(Foundation Music/BMG)Marley Munroe finds her calling with an extraordinary collection of songs and performances that burn deep into you
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From the title, you might think you know what to expect from LA musician Marley Munroe’s debut album as Lady Blackbird. It conjures up thoughts of Hendrix-ish guitars, P-Funk grandiloquence, Afrofuturism. But the old one about judging a book by its cover remains as true as ever.
There are moments of intensity here: rumbling drums and cinematic strings underpin her version of the James Gang’s Collage; the title track, a self-styled “Jackson Pollock jam”, is certainly atmospheric, closing the record with mantric massed vocals, lo-fi organ and an echoing percussive clatter that faintly recalls the sound of Dr John’s Gris-Gris.