Produced by 22a associate Al Dobson Jr. and released by L.A.`s Akashik – initially last September – Lynda Dawn’s debut, At First Light, just got a repress. The track Move featured on Gilles Peterson`s Brownswood Bubblers Vol. 13, as far back as the end of 2018, but here it`s one of the standouts on 7-song strong mini-LP. Songs of love, and desire. Wordless, soaring scats that borrow from Brazilian rhyme. Where Lynda Dawn bumps in Bahia to the tune of Flora Purim’s Moon Dreams, and church-honed harmonies float above Zapp-Like funk. Voice-boxed, vocoder-ed, fat electric-hog-bassed Californian grooves. Handclaps keeping deceptively tight time. Reference points for me are the `80s electro soul of my youth – misspent in “disco-pubs” from Streatham Hill to The Old Kent Road. Loose Ends, Mtume, Rene & Angela. Howard Johnson`s So Fine. The stripped back drum and thumping-bass-for-a-smiling-face sound of Soul II Soul. Move is a definite modern “Club Classic”. Then there`s Uschi Classen. Her cool keys for ballistic brothers and eccentric afros. A more current comparison would be something like Lexx` award-winning, Eye 1-2.
You can order a copy of Lynda Dawn’s At First Sight directly from Akashik.
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