Eight years after Nightintales, China Moses returns with it's complicated..., a striking seventh album produced by herself and crafted with drummer and multi-instrumentalist Troy Miller (Laura Mvula, Jamie Cullum, Gregory Porter), featuring Lakecia Benjamin (sax & flute), Theo Croker (trumpet & arrangements) and Daru Jones (drums).
The eight new tracks - co-written and composed with pianist and songwriter Oli Rockberger (Chaka Khan, Laura Mvula, Gregory Porter, Jordan Rakei) - reveal a songwriter more sincere than ever, facing head-on the trials of her life as an artist and a woman.
Complicated? Maybe. But this is her richest and most eclectic record yet, blending jazz, funk, rock, soul, rap and blues.
Daughter of jazz icon Dee Dee Bridgewater and activist, playwright and filmmaker Gilbert Moses, China was born in Los Angeles and raised in France. She carries a unique voice and a natural talent for breaking barriers. She has worked with Chilly Gonzales, DJ Mehdi and Diam's, paid tribute to Dinah Washington (This One's For Dinah, 2009), and even launched a soul-metal band. More than a singer, she is an "entertainer," capable of transforming any room with her charisma and energy.
Listening to it's complicated... means tracing her path to emancipation as a woman and independent producer. From the first to the last note, the album bears the mark of her sweat, her experience and her skill: the statement of an insatiable, fearless artist.
A bold decision underlines the release: the album will be available only in physical formats - vinyl, CD and cassette. Rejecting the streaming-first model, China invites her audience to a deeper gesture: to truly own the object, feel the vinyl's texture, flip through the booklet, reconnect with authenticity. It's also a call to live music: holding the album while hearing the last notes on stage, making everything more tangible, more real.
