Georgia Anne Muldrow releases her new album - a modern soul classic in the making - titled “Overload” via Flying Lotuss Brainfeeder record label.
During her 12 year career she has earned the respect and admiration of listeners and peers alike via her incredible talent not only as a vocalist and songwriter spanning jazz, soul and hip-hop, but her long standing role as a producer and musician.
“Youre my Jay Electronica… you take it there,” declares Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest. He is one of a long list of admirers including Mos Def (“Shes incredible. Shes like [Roberta] Flack, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, shes something else.”), Erykah Badu, Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange (“She is one of my favourite musicians in the world”), Bilal and Robert Glasper who invited Georgia to perform on his “Miles Ahead” OST in 2016.
“Music is my discipline. Its my way of meditating, its my way of thanking God, its my way of communicating… Its my way of life,” Georgia explains. Typically working alone, her new album flips that dynamic and takes Georgia out of her comfort zone for the first time since “Seeds” (2003) which was entirely produced by Madlib. “Overload” bears the fruits of numerous collaborations, most notably with duo Mike & Keys (50 Cent, Nipsey Hussle, Snoop Dogg, G-Eazy) who contribute production to four tracks including the sleek, anthemic title track - Pitchfork Best New Track on 25 June 2018 - alongside Khalil (Dr Dre).
“Overload the album is an experiment in restraint,” she explains. I pack myself into something as clear as possible with the help of gifted artists from all over the world. The live show is an experiment in interpretation. Thats when my band The Righteous and I unpack into a joyful noise. Both of these dynamics have been striving to balance themselves within me since birth… since wanting to record anything. And by the grace of Patience, Discipline and Devotion, a sweet spot has started to appear.
Elsewhere Dutchman Moods and Manilas Lustbass bring the slo-mo funk heat on “Aerosol” and “Vital Transformation” respectively, and Shana Jenson Muldrow and Georgias partner Dudley Perkins crop up on “You Can Always Count On Me” a cover of the Gap Band classic and “These Are The Things I Like About You.” Flying Lotus, Aloe Blacc and Dudley Perkins share Executive Production credits on the album.
Themes of Love, Spirituality, Self-Actualisation are woven into Georgias music, but she also does not shy away from politics and has been loudly and vigorously critical of the persistent state of inequality between Black and White in the US. Nowhere more directly than on “Blam” - a song about self-defence. “I believe that it has the bones of spiritual song,” says Georgia. “Its an updated negro spiritual in aesthetic”.
Georgia was 17 when she began making beats in earnest, but first lit up the scene with her debut album “Olesi: Fragments Of An Earth” in 2006. It was at this time that Georgia met, befriended and collaborated with the likes of Madlib, Oh No, MED fka Medaphoar, Wildchild, DJ Romes and her future partner Dudley Perkins aka Declaime. She co-founded the SomeOthaShip Connect record label with Dudley in 2008, the platform and springboard for many of her musical travels that have expanded and extended down myriad pathways. Georgia has collected many names over the years: Ms. One, Pattie Blingh & The Akebulan 5, an electro fusion collaboration with DJ Romes called Blackhouse and astral jazz outings as Jyoti - a Hindu name given to Georgia by her Aunt Radhas friend Alice Coltrane they attended the same ashram and serendipitously Great Aunt to one Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus. “She showed me so much love as a child. She knew I was going to work with synthesisers before I did,” laughs Georgia.
It is fitting that a decade on in 2018, Georgia should sign to Brainfeeder - a record label deeply embedded in LA, with a ton of shared history, shared beliefs and a united vision of the future - to release her stunning new album “Overload”.