It's always great to hear new singers who make an album that is good from the beginning to the end. That's just what Conya Doss did with her debut for the new label Nu Mecca.
You can stick the label Nu Soul on Conya's album, but to say it in her own words: "If they want to label me in the Neo-Soul movement they can, but to me this soul music is nothing new. The D'Angelos and Lauryn Hills derive from what we grew up on -- like Donnie Hathaway, Angela Winbush and so forth, it's just modernized. I grew up on every form of music from Bonnie Raitt and Steely Dan to Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan. It's hard to categorize me into one genre of music because it narrows your audience and I learned from them all. It's just good music -- and that's the way I see it."
On the other hand I guess it's alright to label music and to compare it with other artists just to get an impression of what to expect. So my first impression on hearing A Poem To Ms. Doss was: What a fine modern soul (to avoid the nu soul label :-)) album this is.
Cleveland (Ohio) born Conya has been singing since the age of 5 and worked with the likes of Musiq Soulchild, 112 or Gerald Levert. So it's no surprise that A Poem About Ms. Doss is on the Nu Mecca imprint whose president and Chief Executive Officer happens to be Gerald's long-time songwriting partner Edwin 'Tony' Nicholas. And it looks like Conya and Nu Mecca wants to put Ohio on the soul music map: "Unlike artists in other regions, the Ohio area is very limited when it comes to enabling me to practice my craft--especially the kind of music that I do. Cleveland has a tremendous amount of talent, however due to the lack of locations to showcase such talents, many have moved out East or West. I chose to stay here and utilize the very talented producers and songwriters from Cleveland. Initially I had the opportunity to work with several other producers from both the East and West Coast while searching for the sound that I wanted. Ironically, it was at home all the time." says Conya.
But back to the music Conya has to offer. Conya fits perfectly inbetween the more organic soul of the likes of N'Dambi, Erykah Badu or Ledisi.
With 12 songs on offer there's enough to satisfy you. Take the excellent You Really Hurt Me (which reminds me slightly of Alicia Keys' Rock Wit U), Conya's excellent cover of Norman Connors' Starship, That's Not Love or Heaven, a duet with Zero (of whom I've never heard before).
But I could name every song here, like I said in the beginning, there's not a dull track here and you can put your CD player on 'repeat all' and enjoy the soul of Ms. Doss.
One of the best albums this year.