Search - Georgia Anne Muldrow :: Olesi: Fragments of an Earth

Challenging but dope

C. W. Hall | Atlanta, GA USA | 01/25/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Georgia Anne Muldrow is definitely on some next stuff. The question that each listener is going to have to answer for themselves is whether it makes her dope or takes her just a little too far out of their comfort level. She's not quite soul's equivalent to free jazz, but she's leaning in that direction.



Muldrow is easily one of the most talented women in music. She not only wrote and produced both this album and her debut Worthnothings EP, but she also recorded them herself. As such, she is a completely self-contained operation and it shows.



Her musical virtuosity means that there won't be a comfort level for most listeners on Olesi. Playing with time signatures, catchy off-kilter rhythms, and unorthodox vocal choices, are par for the course on this record. Just as you catch up to what she's got going on in one song and get the swing of it, the next will jar you into a different place.



Muldrow is just way too talented to make the kind of catchy straight-forward jams that you expect when hip-hop labels release other types of music. There's not a radio track to be found on Olesi and that says more about radio and mass tastes than it says about Muldrow.



Olesi is an album for bored ears. Muldrow is an artist for bored ears. What she does is probably above the heads of most listeners. But for those that get it, this album is a treat. Listen to it once and then listen a couple more times. If you still aren't feeling it, then listen until you are. Don't adjust your speakers, the problem is with you."