NDEGEOCELLO,MESHELL - Ventriloquism (Gtf/2LP/180g Black Vinyl+mp3) (Sealed) (2LP)

Meshell Ndegeocello has announced her new album of cover songs Ventriloquism today. The album, out March 16, features versions of songs by TLC, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner and more. In anticipation, she has released the album track “Tender Love” (Force MDs). Additionally, she has released her version of Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows In April” via Rolling Stone. Listen to “Tender Love” and “Sometimes It Snows In April." Meshell Ndegeocello tells Rolling Stone about Tender Love: “Tender Love always felt like a timeless and beloved song. People love it across generations, which I really love about it. I was listening to Neil Young’s Harvest around then and it seemed right to update one classic by filtering it through another.” Musically, Ventriloquism has the hallmarks of all of Ndegeocello’s work, lush and investigative, subversive and sublime. As always, she pays tribute to her diverse influences and in these eleven covers, we hear them layered over one another. Ndegeocello filters “Tender Love” through a folky, Californian filter and brings Vaudevillian accents to “Sensitivity”. She recreates Smooth Operator in five, and turns “Private Dancer” into a sultry waltz. The reimagining affords not just a new musical experience but also a comment on the narrow expectations of sounds and structures for black artists and black music.