Album Review: Maya Azucena - Maya Who?

Writer: Nilda Velez

A lot of flowery language can be used to describe singers, but when you stumble upon that rarity who can consistently radiate power from both their performance and voice, even when singing a ballad, simplicity prevails. There are few singers who can successfully transform the slow, hypnotic pace of a slow jam into a hectic rhythm that captures a rainbow of emotions in just that one song. Capturing the energy to do so with soul is called talent. Maya Azucena is talented.

On her first full length effort, Maya Who?, the Brooklyn native answers that title question on ten tracks. She's a vocalist with the ability to write beautifully descriptive songs and sing them with all the passion her words demand. The project has a wide variety of tone, musical arrangement and song topics. This is a getting-ready-for-the-club album, a driving-around-aimlessly album, and a falling-in-and-out-love album. The consistent element, though, is her power.

Like No Other is the paradigm of soul songs, evocative of the emphatic sound of the 70s. It's introduced with the familiar piano chords of RnB, a slow and seductive baseline, and Maya's rich voice stretching out the last word of every line. The instrumental depth and the romantic tone with which she sings fools you into thinking this is standard fare - that is, until the perfectly timed background vocals, with the help of some spiritual element, are transformed into the choir sound that makes you think, "Take 'em to church." This track goes from smooth to funky seamlessly as Maya sings her lover's praise: "Cause since you came into my life / Sweet wine onto my soul / Your love it is like gold / The deeper you love me / The deeper I fall in." Here's the melodic break where the mention of ascension rifts off into ad-libs where you can't help but sing along. The album is worth buying just for this song.

As if to prove the range of her writing ability, disappointment and its volatile relationship with hope is lyrically captured with precision on The Right Way. Maya sings, "Maybe love will help you rise above / Be the man you hope to be when you see you're losing us / I believe in you more than you yourself / Let me lift you up." This is where she exercises her lungs' capacity, pulling notes out from where her diaphragm meets her pain. The depth and clarity of every run is astonishing. She does her own backgrounds on this track and there's a sense of excitement where the swelling music meets her rising voice. The guitar and the percussion are mixed well with all the layers of her vocals. Nothing is lost. Instead, you discover another layer of it with each subsequent listen.

The LP opens with Do You Really Want To Party, an uptempo song with a hook so catchy it's still with you hours later. It's the perfect compliment to the more content-heavy songs. Maya then paints pictures of summertime Brooklyn accentuated with double dutch and block parties on G-hetto. If you catch her perform live, the energy from the album is multiplied tenfold on stage. This powerful soul sistah is not even a little afraid to perform, rocking to her own beats and singing intensely with eyes closed.

Who's Maya? If you don't know, now you know.


Note: Maya Who?! is an independently released CD that is available in several cities around the US, as well as through internet outlets such as: iTunes, TowerRecords.com, DustyGroove.com, CDBaby.com and more. For a list of available retail outlets, go to MayaWho.com, but the CD will definitely be available at Virgin Megatore (NYC) and Soul Brother Records (London).

RELATED LINKS:
Maya Azucena - our interview with Maya Azucena
Maya Azucena - official site

PUBLISHED: 18 September 2005

RELEASE DATE: tbc .

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