Meshell Ndegeocello - Ventriloquism

Pitchfork 78

Tackling a range of R&B radio hits from the 1980s and 1990s, Meshell Ndegeocello treats the practice of covering another’s songs as an act of intimacy and empathy.

The Guardian 60

(Naïve)

Meshell Ndegeocello isn’t a fan of modern R&B: “I find myself not being able to listen to a lot of [it],” she recently told Billboard, “just because of the vibration it gives off.” Little wonder then that, after a grief-filled year in which she buried one parent and half-lost the other to dementia, the feted neo-soul pioneer chose to reach backwards, to the comfort of familiar, past sounds.

Ndegeocello is no stranger to covers projects. Recent years have seen her pay homage to Nina Simone on 2012’s Pour une Âme Souveraine: A Dedication to Nina Simone, and Fats Waller, via guest spots on Selma scorer Jason Moran’s All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller. Ventriloquism casts a wider net, reworking classics by various artists, songs released between 1985 and 95 (the decade that preceded Ndegeocello’s feted debut, Plantation Lullabies).