New music: Romi Mayes, Megan Thee Stallion, Ryan Truesdell, Mishka Rushdie Momen

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This article was published 04/07/2024 (740 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROOTS/BLUES

Romi Mayes

Small Victories (Independent)

The biggest victory in the release of Romi Mayes’ sixth album of original material is, of course, that the Winnipeg singer/songwriter has returned to recording after a nine-year hiatus.

The smaller victory — for listeners, at least — is that this rootsy, bloozy collection of a dozen new songs picks up right where Mayes left off with 2015’s Devil on Both Shoulders, adding another volume to her canon and encompassing the depth and breadth of her decades of performing and songwriting experience — everything from achingly open ballads to swinging folk and blues to fire-spitting declarations of defiance.

In the tradition of vinyl LPs (her own wax is coming soon), Small Victories is divided into distinct sides — side A is “Soft,” side B “Heavy” — which enables Mayes and her band of bassist Tom (Twisty) Fodey, drummer Damon Mitchell and guitarist Chris Saywell to ease into proceedings.

Opener Please Tell My Heart is a classic tale of unrequited desire, marked by gently chiming guitars and Mayes’ hushed, tender vocals. When I’m With You is a breezy two-step, and the gentle, loping country of Right Now, which features a pair of sweet slide guitar solos from Jay Nowicki, may be Mayes’ most accomplished love song. Broken Pieces is a gentle, acoustic reflection on the choices faced when the light goes out (“The years that they have paved between them always make him stay”), beautifully embellished by the mandolin of Jaxon Haldane.

Mayes (who self-produced with help from Fodey and engineer Scott Franchuk) revs up her raunchier, rocking self on the album’s heavy side, cranking up the amps and letting Saywell rip while she cajoles an object of desire on C’mon Baby; getting all hopped up and ready to go on the roots-pop of Rocket and Don’t Say a Word; and unleashing her inner blues wail on Love Ain’t Free and Tired of Loving You.

Can’t Stop Me Now, meanwhile, is the beating heart of Small Victories. The fourth song of the side, it’s a bawling, throbbing blues-rocker with lyrics that took a lifetime to write, telling a defiant tale of trauma, self-reliance and survival.

The Winnipeg album release show is July 26 at the West End Cultural Centre. ★★★★ out of five stars

Stream: Right Now; Rocket; Can’t Stop Me Now.

— John Kendle

POP

Megan Thee Stallion

Megan (Hot Girl)

“Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past, over and over again,” Megan Thee Stallion says in the intro for her Cobra music video. It is the first single from Megan, her third studio album, and one of many songs channeling snakes.

She sounds strong atop chugging riffs and fluttering synths. Megan stretches and tightens syllables to enhance the weight of her words, a reminder that she’s lived through a few nightmarish years, and is working on coming out the other side.

It makes sense that Megan Thee Stallion – whose birth name is Megan Pete – would self-title this record, one born out of newfound autonomy after battling her former record label for years. It is also her first album since the end of the criminal case against Tory Lanez, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan in the feet, concluding a three-year legal and cultural saga.

In the years after the 2020 shooting, Megan — a three-time Grammy winner and hip-hop superstar – became the target of misinformation and social media vitriol leveled against her in a clear-cut example of misogynoir, a specific type of misogyny experienced by Black women.

She’s managed to turn that pain and betrayal into to art — or at the very least, filter her frustrations through it, sharpening her flow in the process. Boa is self-assured, with an energetic sample of Gwen Stefani’s 2004 hit What You Waiting For? Hiss is a scathing diss track with various targets.

There are still moments of perky pleasure (Broke His Heart, the shimmery self-satisfaction of Down Stairs DJ), charming detours into her admiration of Japanese culture (Otaku Hot Girl), and energetic collaborations (Spin with Victoria Monét, Accent with GloRilla.) But across Megan, the rapper’s primary focus appears to be on pushing past her detractors — without as many of her previous, light-hearted joys. And who could blame her? ★★★★ out of five

Stream: Boa; Broke his Heart

— Maria Sherman, The Associated Press

JAZZ

Ryan Truesdell

Synthesis: The String Quartet Sessions (ArtistShare)

It is impossible to answer clearly “What is Jazz?” these days. Crossovers into formerly distinct musical genres is virtually omnipresent.

Ryan Truesdell is an acclaimed jazz arranger/composer/leader/educator in the tradition of Gil Evans or Maria Schneider. He has produced some ambitious concept albums, but this release moves him into new and even more challenging directions. Over a period of years he recruited 15 established jazz composers to write music for string quartet that still includes improvisation and many “familiar” jazz riffs.

The result is an extraordinary three hours of music over 30 tracks that could easily be from the New Music Festival. There are appearances by non-string musicians, but the groundwork is by a group of New York string players comfortable in any genre.

The compositions are hugely varied, from what might be called “conventional” string quartet mode to wildly dissonant and exploratory. There are single tracks, such as a lovely one by Canadian Ingrid Jensen called Tilting World. As well there are several suites ranging from three to seven movements and are the core of this adventurous release.

Truesdell’s four part Suite For Clarinet and String Quartet has clarinetist Anat Cohen soaring over the strings wonderfully. Rufus Reid’s String Quartet #1 has three stirring movements while John Hollenbeck’s Grey Cottage has seven movements with the composer adding drums, marimba and piano to the dominant violin lead.

This amazing album is both familiar and wonderfully new. Truesdell’s choices for inclusion are masterful. Each composer has risen to the offer with powerful music.

A friend of mine used to say if someone asks, “Is that jazz?” he answers “No, it’s something else of the same name.” Enjoy. ★★★★1/2 out of five

Stream: Where Can You Be; Grey Cottage Suite.

— Keith Black

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CLASSICAL

Mishka Rushdie Momen

Reformation (Hyperion)

British pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen marks her label debut with a program of late Tudor keyboard works, also Hyperion’s album of the month.

Works by Byrd, Gibbons, Bull and Sweelinck are notably performed on a modern day piano rather than a harpischord or clavichord, thus allowing the artist to bring out new tonal colours and textures throughout her 18 selections. It also provides her expressive artistry to fully flower, including lyrical phrases and gossamer light ornamentation that serve as the hallmark of the baroque era.

Highlights include Byrd’s Callino Casturame, BK35 and Praeludium to the Fancie, BK 12, both teeming with nimble runs and trills, as well as La Volta, BK91, the latter in particular highlighting Momen’s nuanced dynamic palette able to create idiosyncratic terraced effects. Others are Gibbons’s two-part Pavan and Galliard, Lord Salisbury that ebbs and flows through sonic vistas.

She’s especially eloquent with the more plaintive works, including Byrd’s Pavana Lachrymae, BK54 and Bull’s My Grief. Sweelinck’s Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, a 4 voci, begins simply and grows into a tightly knitted tapestry of polyphonic voices, performed with both clarity and precision.

Gibbons’s Alman in G, The King’s Jewel is infused with requisite nobility while the artist’s well-paced interpretation of Byrd’s The Bells, BK 38 bursts into rapid-fire figuration pealing with joy in this early summer pleaser a welcome addition to the baroque keyboard music discography. ★★★★ out of five

Stream: Callino Casturame, BK35; Praeludium to the Fancie, BK 12; The Bells, BK 38

— Holly Harris