New Mix: The Suffers, S. Carey, Lady Dan, more
Clockwise from upper left: The Suffers, Whatever The Weather, Maria BC, Lady Day, Yungchen Lhamo Courtesy of the artists hide caption
Lady Dan is the music of Alabama-born, and now Austin-based musician, Tyler Dozier. I open this week's All Songs Considered with her song "Not In Love" which is right up my guitar-loving alley. Then NPR Music editor Hazel Cills joins me and introduces the soulful vocals of Maria BC. The Ohio-born, Oakland-based artist is a classically trained mezzo-soprano. They mix that exquisite voice with electronics and samples on the song "The Only Thing." I also play music mixing soul and electronic sounds from the artist Maylee Todd. The song "Show Me Your Heart" is from her album Maloo, named after her avatar. You can see Maloo in the video down below, which Maylee Todd created. Hazel Cills plays another track, somewhat ambient in tone, but with a jarring, pulsing edge from the artist Whatever The Weather.
The second half of the show starts off with S. Carey, an artist we've been following since he began drumming and singing with Bon Iver. S. Carey wrote a heartbreaking song about trying to better himself called "Break Me Open," which is also the title to his upcoming album.
Yungchen Lhamo is a Tibetan singer with a heavenly voice. I'll play the opening and title track to her album Awakening. The show comes to a close with a question from the Houston-based band The Suffers. "How Can We Heal?" powerfully addresses the issue of reckoning and the pain of racial trauma. The song features Son Little, Bryce The Third and the voice of Kam Franklin.