13. Dawn Richard & Spencer ZahnPigments
This is the thing that I’ve been listening to most recently that I’ve really loved. Last year I played a lot of festivals, especially in the US and on many of those festivals Dawn Richard was also on the lineup and I caught her singing and performing live – not this album but just on her own and I was like “Who is that?” And my friend was like, “That’s Dawn Richard from Danity Kane.” I was really excited that she’s active. And she’s always wearing amazing outfits, and there’s dancers and the music is so good. She’s such a good singer, and it’s just beautiful to see someone that you really liked and cared about on the scene – I wouldn’t say ‘back’ on the scene because I don’t think anyone ever leaves – but yeah, to see to see her last year on so many festival bills just doing her thing, it was really exciting. And then she puts out this record with this guy Spencer Zahn, and it’s just this other thing. It’s not jazz or r & b, it’s this beautiful record, and the way she’s singing, the way she’s composed the vocals and the parts and the lyrics is really wonderful and shows her range and her musicality. So I’m a big fan.
