May 3–10, 2001

cd reviews|soul

india.arie

Acoustic Soul

(Motown)

Any black woman who picks up a guitar, before she performs chord one, is likened to Tracy Chapman and Meshell N’degeocello. Denver, CO, native india.arie’s musical style, however, only vaguely resembles those two folksy blueswomen. Rather, Acoustic Soul, arie’s first album, just partially strays from pre-packaged R&B production, making her sound marketable to black radio devotees, unlike her guitar-strumming comparisons. Some of arie’s acoustic chord progressions play too softly beneath uninventive instrumentation, failing to wholly live up to the album’s title. But even though the bass-heavy, radio-friendly "Video" and "Nature," for example, have as much pop appeal as any Destiny’s Child song, arie writes songs with substance and potential for longevity, breaking free from media-inflicted lyrical molds. Ultimately, arie’s music is far more affecting when it’s stripped-down and organic. The album interludes (where her guitar takes the foreground and the vocals are both bassy and healing, like a balm, and crisply textured, like raw sugarcane) are as formidable and surreal as anything sung by Lauryn Hill. Listening to Acoustic Soul, one becomes curious: Had arie not had co-producers, might her album be aesthetically closer to its title. It’s easy to imagine her in her element on stage — spellbinding a crowd with one voice, one guitar and one soul.

—Hamida Kinge