Liz Vice is a singer of neo-gospel: music that sounds pretty close to the gospel of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Tharpe used the blues and invented rock in order to spread thrilling gospel in nightclubs and in similar bacchanals. Liz Vice sings us beauty for the sake of beauty, wherein beautiful gospel is the light.
She is best at narrative singing. In the song “Entrance,” she sings us a narrative that is impossible to turn away from. After a climactic build up, the song’s chorus and its accompanying instrumentation amazes. She does the same in “Everything Is Yours,” and “All Must Be Well”: two songs that burn beautifully.
She is a humble singer and the timbre in her singing is much more pronounced than her phrasing. Most of the phrasing in this album is done by instruments.
We are submerged in gorgeous instrumentation from beginning to end, instrumentation that we do not expect from contemporary gospel. In “Empty Me Out” we hear the word Jesus loud and clear but it’s hearing the tambourine that is the most spiritual element in the music.
A listener will likely listen to There’s A Light as if he or she is listening to a secular soul album. Unless when one hears the word ‘Jesus,’ this album’s sounds are reminiscent of the very best neo-soul music that includes D’Angelo’s, Erykah Badu’s, and Maxwell’s.
Buy There’s A Light in the Americas
Author: Adolf Alzuphar
