Nomi
http://www.nomionline.com

styles: hip-hop, r&b, slow jams
others: Sade, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott

Lost in Lust
Park Side, 2005
rating: 3/5
reviewer: willcoma


Here's an underground artist, but only by default. I mean, how many underground acts employ a different set of make-up artists and stylists for their album and back cover photos? Okay, probably more than I know. But how many list them in their album credits? I'm feeling out of my depth here. This is vain music. This is like that HBO movie with Wesley Snipes as the wannabe architect and Sanaa Lathan (yeah, I had to look it up) as the wannabe hip-hop diva. Only instead of one hotshot producer, we've got four different cats backing our starry-eyed siren up.

As a herb from the woody valleys of upstate New York, and not one of the many sucked into the realms of the most popular musical genre in the world, I'm beyond relating to what's operating at the heart of these tracks. The rigid structure of hip-hop appears to be alluring because it's basic and solid. Because it reaches across cultural barriers with its directness and unified style. I understand the need for songs that say something—that carry on the tradition of conveying timeless themes with heart and integrity. The way some music scholars talk about innovation, it begins to sound pretty cold and inhuman.

Yet I'm compelled to keep my piddlebrow skepticism all the same. I respond to the beats that I respond to on here because, novice that I am, I don't know just how derivative they must be. The same goes for the singing. Man, do I love this voice. It's sultry and slinky and confident. Especially when it meshes with the beats, as it does on tracks four through seven, I find myself wondering why this is underground at all. This is the kind of austere, cutting soul majesty you just don't hear enough in the mainstream. Why are all the hot producers backing up these ridiculous white strands of dental floss? Here's a curvy (I normally wouldn't care, but look at that fucking cover!) chanteuse with some real vocal prowess, and I have to hear all this "heybabyheybabyhey" Stefani bullshit...

Again, I'm likely out of my element here. I'm pretty sure this girl wants to be a star. This much is obvious. Her lyrics are mostly pretty pop, despite the personal nature of the subject matter, but she sells them well. And the fact that she's modeling like a Source calendar girl on the front and back of her album suggests she wouldn't mind rubbing shoulders with an Aguilera type of character. It faintly smacks of music for people who dance because they're lost to the groove, but more than that, dance (at the trendiest clubs available) to be seen, adored, and awed at. The more attention an artist gets, the more likely they're gonna interact with and revel in it. It seems that some hopefuls, particularly singers, go at it with this already in mind. So at least they're honest. But being the caveworn troll that I am, I can only engage with the artistry. I don't own a snazzy outfit. I don't have ambitions to an elite—at least not the elite that comes with being a sex object/torch singer. So please understand my reservations are relative to my humble ambitions and appreciations. Nomi's singing truly shines, but a distracting album cover is still a distracting album cover.

I take comfort in the fact that this music moves me. It shows there is still hope for my lame ass. If Nomi's songs (particularly the exquisite, RZA-styled bounce of "Broken Heartless" and the dusty, plaintive groove of "B-Girl Lullaby") can get through to me, you should find much to love here. And, having opened for CocoRosie, it's safe to say that she's not totally blind to the virtues of vision over vanity. I just hope she's not just another poseur looking to have the cake and eat it, because there's too many of those already. Come to think of it, I saw Harpo Marx burn a candle at both ends in a movie today. He was either being silly or making a point... What do I know!

Enough! This is a solid album, and it shows true prowess and promise. It even has some climactic brassy melodrama ("Demon's Call") to help wrap things up. It would've been a fitting closer, rather than the lean and mean title track, but oh well. This is alluring, restrained R&B crooning from a furtive fox with some talented DJ friends. So, please go and check it out before I screw up this review any further!

1. Intro
2. Streets of Brooklyn
3. One Of The Hardest
4. Beast
5. Broken Heartless
6. B-Girl Lullaby
7. You Revive Me
8. Hooked On Your Love
9. Demon's Call
10. Lost in Lust