The new album Love & Conflict from gospel and R&B legend, Martha Wash, is everything and more. Two-time Grammy nominee Wash’s elegance and commanding presence dances between genres in this eight-song collection from her own label, Purple Rose Records. In full control of her music, career and her legacy, Wash’s newest album is a masterclass in blending passionate jazz, euphoric notes and even some funkified bass lines intermixed. From the church choir, to singing backup for a disco legend, being one half of The Weather Girls, racing up the charts with C & C Music Factory and Black Box – Wash seems to be right smack at the right place, at the right time in the dynamic Love & Conflict.
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Wash’s voice takes the listener to many places. Emotionally speaking in the first song, “Glamour Flows”, the track starts out very snappy. It’s jazzy and opens the door wide open for the listener to get their hips shaking and shoulders moving. Wash energizes the room and her backing bad fills any empty space with horns, perfect time in the rhythm section and a wide swath of fun. She keeps up that adrenaline a with “Like Fire”. From there, “Soaring Free” and “Flowers Blossom” Wash continues to create different soundscapes that accentuate her voice, as well as positive lyrics that inspire. She’s really in the sweet spot when she sings in the gospel arena – songs like “Flowers Blossom” have her in that realm. Her songs are positive and very uplifting. When I close my eyes and imagine her singing, it brings an instant smile. She’s comforting and has this instant empathy that can’t be duplicated in the studio. She’s completely genuine. She has such warmth, and listening to her is like a friend giving you that hug that you’ve been missing for a long time.
In “Never Enough Money” Wash steps up her game, as well as the backing instrumentation. The keys are on fire in this one – reminding me a lot of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”. No back luck here, Wash keeps it real and she showers the listener with a bevy of funk, jazz and R&B and joy. The last three songs, “Don’t Forget My Name”, “Honey My Friend” and “Rise and Shine” are all excellent and continue to move and groove. I found “Don’t Forget My Name” to be very striking. Wash, who went through quite an ordeal with fighting to get her name recognized as the real singer behind “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” from C +C Music Factory, only to have the same issue with Black Box’s debut album (that featured hits like “Everybody Everybody” and “Strike It Up”), is clear and at a point in her professional life that maybe that fight doesn’t need to come through. Or does it?
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You can’t help but feel the confidence oozing in her voice, hovering over the “Axel F”-like synth bed. Don’t need to follow any trend, get down to the music, she sings. This is the power running in your veins, she conveys. A signature song, perhaps. You will remember her name, Martha Wash. But I think you will remember her voice more.
Jodi Marxbury