From Richmond, Virginia
Recommended if you like Cécile McLorin Salvant, Tomeka Reid, Ornette Coleman
Up next Debut album, Mean Reds, released 24 October
As the co-founder of American bolero group Miramar, vocalist Laura Ann Singh has spent the past five years minting a warm, nostalgic analogue sound, rich with Spanish-language harmonies. Her upcoming spiky solo debut, Mean Reds, disrupts that entirely. Supplanting the swaying Latin rhythms of bolero for a free jazz quartet, these eight tracks revel in atonal scrapes, cymbal splashes, keening horns and Singh’s lively vocals. Referencing avant garde pioneer Ornette Coleman’s free form improvisations as much as Joni Mitchell’s emotive lyricism, the result is a rowdy debut that launches Singh as one of the more distinctive new voices in jazz.
Singh has previously dipped her toe into the genre by guesting with composer Tomeka Reid on her 2024 live suite of music inspired by Duke Ellington. Her first full foray into improvisation touches on the music of other contemporaries: she channels Diane Reeves’ soft melodics on the opening track River and Do Not Remain, while As Strange As It Is plays more akin to singers such as Cécile McLorin Salvant in its doubling of wonky, modernist horns and vocal melody. It’s when Singh cuts loose that she fully comes into her own. A raucous, tub-thumping energy drives her tunes such as Highway Monster, while Counting plays like a jazz-punk version of a Sesame Street song as Singh shouts “number words are hard it’s true”. She creates playful, unruly music that feels so alive thanks to its chaos, promising future stylistic twists to come. Ammar Kalia
This week’s best new tracks
Tyla – Chanel
The best of the singles the South African singer has released since her instant-classic self-titled debut album, Chanel shows how adept she is at turning Afro-house beats into dramatic pop: a rare feat. BBT
Leon Thomas – Baccarat
Building huge success from the old-school stuff of talent and hard touring, the US soul man releases a new EP today and Baccarat is the astounding highlight: outrageous funk-rock with a shuffle to make Tony Allen smile from on high. BBT
Jpegmafia and Danny Brown – Roaches
This bonus track from the Scaring the Hoes expanded edition is significantly less intense than that hare-brained record; positively feel-good, even, as Brown recalls childhood memories over bubbling, soulful production. LS
Barry Walker Jr – Quiessence (ft Rob Smith and Jason Willmon)
The Rose City Band’s pedal steel player stretches out and languishes in the pearly sighs of history’s best instrument, creating space for the guitarist and drummer’s light noodlings. LS
US Girls – Running Errands (Yesterday)
Meg Remy has put out two versions of her new song Running Errands: the Today version is sumptuously full-band but Yesterday is even better, like a boom-bap hip-hop production. BBT
Donna Thompson – Meteors
The London jazz musician’s self-possessed meditations on love recall KeiyaA and Aja Monet at their most beatific: birdsong, silvery cymbals and light double bass soundtrack her attempts to reassemble her shattered heart. LS
Oneohtrix Point Never – Lifeworld
As well as scoring Oscar-tipped Timothée Chalamet drama Marty Supreme, Daniel Lopatin has a solo album coming up too: its track Lifeworld is a wash of new age wonderment that locks into a subtle groove. BBT
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