Second line

"Dawn Richard's move to Merge Records for Second Line provided an instant boost to her profile. From an artistic standpoint, it's transparent. Utilizing the higher platform to simply advance her modern synthesis of pop and dance music styles that have sprung from rhythm & blues, the dynamo also continues to derive concepts from her duplexity as a cultural anthropologist and futurist".

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"With its 16 tracks that blur the lines between song, spoken word, and short stories, Second Line is a continuation of an avant-garde musicality born from the place Richard calls home and where she returned after her pop career stalled. Conceptually, the album takes from the New Orleans tradition of parade revelers gathering to dance, mourn, or celebrate. Whatever the occasion, music is constant, and so is the idea of being an individual within the crowd-you move as a unit while keeping your own pace. Jazz is the most known accompaniment; and yet in a Second Line, you'll also hear an eclectic fusion of funk, hip-hop, soul, and blues".

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"Jubilant bounce track "Bussifame" also opens with Richard's mother defining a second line in her own terms: "Everybody is happy and they're doing how they feel," she notes carefully, before her words dissipate into King Creole's musical future of Black Southern jubilation. This is the core of Richard's message, and it's felt deeply throughout her record as we explore the sacredness of her space and the comfort of her language. "You'll get the chance to move your feet," Richard's shouts in a resounding echo. We all deserve that chance to dance as freely as the women in her music, as the community in her second line".

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"Jubilant bounce track "Bussifame" also opens with Richard's mother defining a second line in her own terms: "Everybody is happy and they're doing how they feel," she notes carefully, before her words dissipate into King Creole's musical future of Black Southern jubilation. This is the core of Richard's message, and it's felt deeply throughout her record as we explore the sacredness of her space and the comfort of her language. "You'll get the chance to move your feet," Richard's shouts in a resounding echo. We all deserve that chance to dance as freely as the women in her music, as the community in her second line".

Read review

"With its 16 tracks that blur the lines between song, spoken word, and short stories, Second Line is a continuation of an avant-garde musicality born from the place Richard calls home and where she returned after her pop career stalled. Conceptually, the album takes from the New Orleans tradition of parade revelers gathering to dance, mourn, or celebrate. Whatever the occasion, music is constant, and so is the idea of being an individual within the crowd-you move as a unit while keeping your own pace. Jazz is the most known accompaniment; and yet in a Second Line, you'll also hear an eclectic fusion of funk, hip-hop, soul, and blues".

Read review

"Dawn Richard's move to Merge Records for Second Line provided an instant boost to her profile. From an artistic standpoint, it's transparent. Utilizing the higher platform to simply advance her modern synthesis of pop and dance music styles that have sprung from rhythm & blues, the dynamo also continues to derive concepts from her duplexity as a cultural anthropologist and futurist".

Read review