TWEET - Charlene

A sun-drenched porch in the middle of the afternoon, vines caressed by a gentle breeze, the buzzing of bees, the scent of fruit trees, and a jug of cold water sitting on a rustic wooden table; few artists can embody the soulful spirit of the American Deep South quite like Charlene Keys, better known as Tweet.

Over a long but decidedly sparse career, this beautiful and radiant 45-year-old has built a genuine cult following in the world of underground r&b, earned entirely on the strength of her own songs, which today just as at the time of her debut are able to speak to the heart the way a caring mother's voice would.

Just that scant minute of "Intro: Soulfully Yours, Charlene" is enough to capture the placid, reflective slice of life that hangs over the album's grooves. For Tweet, as for so many of us, life zig-zags along, and the rewards always seem too few for a woman so sensitive and so in love with her art, even more than with fame. Indeed, despite the unconditional support of Missy Elliott, who opened the doors of the music industry for her at the time of her debut and co-wrote with her the celebrated "Oops (Oh My)", Tweet's career has been marked by a series of fits and starts that have thrown a spanner in the works more than once, and today we find her signed to the independent label eOne (the same label that another outsider, Bilal, has also recently turned to).

A humble, frugal situation, then, but one that allows her to do exactly what she's always wanted to do: write her own songs in total freedom, then coddle and polish them one by one with painstaking care until she feels fully satisfied with the result.

"Charlene" is indeed an album with a timeless sound, where the arrangements are well calibrated yet remain true to the emotion felt at the moment of the first draft, an approach that leans toward folk and country; placid acoustic textures mix with flashes of electric filaments, guitar and organ settle over lulling r&b polyrhythms in a kind of quiet storm rippled with touches of gospel. Tweet's multiple vocal lines create complex, refined vocal harmonies worthy of a true soul singer, yet without ever tipping into the forced emotionalism that sometimes afflicts direct inheritors of her style such as K. Michelle or Jazmine Sullivan.

The focal point of Tweet's music, then, hasn't changed all that much since the splendid "Southern Hummingbird" of 2002, but it's impossible not to find yourself once again entangled in the soulful textures and warm vibrations radiating from this new batch of songs — an hour of music that seems devoted to the peace of the senses.

Certainly "Charlene" will also be an album for the select few, not least because — if we really wanted to nitpick — one could point out that Tweet's image has never quite managed to fully reflect the genuine feeling that emanates from her music, a "problem" that's perhaps somewhat venial but that undoubtedly makes a difference in her field — the clumsy oversized dress worn on the cover, the shiny oversized wig, or the far-too-amateurish video for "Won't Hurt Me" certainly don't help give a sense of what's really simmering beneath the surface.

No matter; Tweet is a singer-songwriter first and foremost, and it's her music that will have the final say. And who knows, if Minnie Riperton were still with us today, perhaps she'd be making music just like this...

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

01/03/2016