Melanie Fiona: The Bridge
Canadian soul singer lands a breathtaking debut full of vintage-R&B and attitude
Just one breakthrough single elevated Canadian R&B singer Melanie Fiona to radio success. With the help of a strong sample from the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” and a gospel-trained voice resembling Christina Aguilera, Fiona made the best of her classics’ tribute on “Give It to Me Right.” And while using a revivalist’s smorgasbord focused on ‘60s pop/soul, Fiona entertains the heftiest music carnivore with her entrapping vocal performances and surrounding smart nostalgic-meets-modern production on The Bridge. Songs like “Monday Morning,” gripping a Hall & Oates’ “Maneater” and a strong Holland-Dozier-Dozier formula, and the Stax soul of “Walk on By” are the stuff soul revivalists dreamed of. “Please Don’t Go (Cry Baby)” is conventional Motown (sampling “Jimmy Mack”), even though it also reminiscences the punchy pop of Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape.” “It Kills Me” is more of an urban-styled offering than that of the surrounding classic refrains. One of the obvious perplexing issues of The Bridge surround the number of song writers and producers rushing to Fiona’s aid. You would think with over twelve producers and even a puzzling Kanye West endorsement that disaster would have been the album’s fate. Ironically, the songs gel together in a way that easily parallels the works of Solange’s Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, even Raphael Saadiq’s The Way I See It. With no grey areas, Fiona lands the perfect debut and one of the most surprising, entertaining collections in R&B for 2009.
J MATTHEW COBB
HIFI DETAILS
- Release Date: 26 Jun 2009
- Label: SRC/Universal Motown
- Producers: Melanie Fiona, Andrea Martin, Rob Fusari, Peter Wade Keusch, Vada Nobles, Bill Blast, Sidth Solanki, Dan Strong, Future Cut, Stereotypes, Jay Fenix, Affilate
- Track Favs: It Kills Me, Bang Bang. Please Don’t Go (Cry Baby), Give It to Me Righ, Monday Morning
