A beginner's mind
Sufjan Stevens
Keywords
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Reviews (3)
AllMusic
2021
By
By
Matt Collar
2021
"Having garnered acclaim for her sophisticated and artful blend of jazz and R&B, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding has continued to expand her sound, growing increasingly experimental and organic with each album. It's an approach she takes to yet another boldly creative level with 2021's Songwrights Apothecary Lab. The record shares its title with a class Spalding curates at Harvard that's advertised as "half songwriting workshop, and half guided-research practice," all of which sounds like it is intended to make both the writing and listening of music a more healing and uplifting experience. If that sounds somewhat esoteric and pseudo-spiritual, it is. Songwrights Apothecary Lab is a gorgeously rendered production that skirts the lines between art rock, free jazz, and wordless modern creative improvisation".
Pitchfork
d. 6. Oct. 2021
By
By
Tarisai Ngangura
d. 6. Oct. 2021
"Esperanza Spalding's eighth album is a strangely romantic, sometimes didactic effort to mold the often private experience of listening and feeling the healing power of music".
JazzTimes
d. 30. Sep. 2021
By
By
Martin Johnson
d. 30. Sep. 2021
"t's not hard to imagine in these times of pandemic, global climate crisis, and a capricious level of economic stratification that an artist would want to put healing music into the world, and consistent with Spalding's previous efforts, Songwrights Apothecary Lab is forward and didactic. She consulted with neuroscientists and music therapists in creating the 12 songs here, each of which is designed to address specific emotions and stresses. That's a lot of weight for an album to bear, and it may be just as (if not more) effective if listeners bring their own agenda to the music, which is sprawling, serene, and gently provocative. Spalding's voice is sensitively persuasive on the songs with lyrics, and her bass drives the extended instrumentals. It's easy to imagine it as the soundtrack to a yoga class or even as meditation, but it also works in foreground settings too".