#LION BABE BEGIN ZIPPYSHARE UPDATE#

I hope theyвЂ™d agree thatвЂ™s not the right move for us. Jillian explains: вЂњIвЂ™m sure in some respects the label would love for us to come up with a big pop song, but at the same time, they know that weвЂ™re not straightforward вЂ“ weвЂ™re not in one specific box and we never will be. In a time when major label acts are encouraged to find their musical identity behind the scenes before being put out for public display, such an approach obviously comes with its challenges. After grafting in the studio for two years, they re-emerged in 2015 and have spent the last 12 months forging their musical identity in the public eye, releasing an EP and one-off tracks including throwback R&B number Impossible and the sultry hip-swiveller Wonder Woman. In 2012 the pair released their debut single, called Treat Me Like Fire, and shortly after they landed a record deal with Interscope. вЂњBut we couldnвЂ™t find anyone else that fit with us and got what we were trying to achieve.вЂќ вЂњWe originally thought weвЂ™d be more of a band than a duo,вЂќ Jillian admits. They decided to carry on, but anticipated it being more than just the two of them. That and New York City have been the main places weвЂ™ve drawn influences from.вЂќД¬omprising of singer Jillian (the daughter of actress/singer Vanessa Williams) and producer/instrumentalist Lucas Goodman, Lion Babe formed in New York after a mutual friend put the pair in touch to score a dance piece for Jillian at school. We like to reference things that are pretty nostalgic the 1970s was a big era for us because our parents introduced us to artists from that time. вЂњItвЂ™s all grounded in soul music but itвЂ™s very much a sign of the times now. We ask Jillian to have a stab at a summary anyway. When you have collaborations that are as organic as this, you just have to figure it out as you go along.вЂќ вЂњWeвЂ™re still in that stage where weвЂ™re transforming into who we are. вЂњI love that thereвЂ™s difficulty in describing us,вЂќ one-half of the duo Jillian Hervey told us when we called them up for a chat.

Where Badu cultivated a voice thatвЂ™s distinctly her own, Hervey is content to simply borrow somebody elseвЂ™s.If youвЂ™re already familiar with Lion Babe, youвЂ™ll know theyвЂ™re not the easiest of acts to pin down in terms of sound. ItвЂ™s a constant reminder of just how safe Lion Babe play it, as well as the shortcuts they take.

ItвЂ™s as if Hervey prepped for each session by listening to ' Bag Lady'В on loop, and that resemblance can work against her. ThereвЂ™s no mistaking the similarities: the jazzy flutter, the way her voice glides under words then curls around them to pull them closer. Why take R&B to strange new places, Lion Babe seem to be saying, when itвЂ™s already in a good place to begin with? That conservatism might be a little easier to appreciate, though, if HerveyвЂ™s voice wasnвЂ™t a near dead-ringer for one of R&BвЂ™s great risk takers, Erykah Badu. In some ways itвЂ™s refreshing to see that, after a half-decade of aggressive experimentation, sometimes seemingly for the sake of experimentation, alternative R&B is returning to the basics. Lion Babe are open to any style that might lend itself to a personable, three-minute song, and that flexibility generally works for them.

#LION BABE BEGIN ZIPPYSHARE UPDATE#

Opener 'Whole' doubles down on the funk, with a jabbing groove that feels like a 2016 update of Nikka CostaвЂ™s forgotten hit ' Like a Feather.' ThereвЂ™s no rigid vision tying together this grab bag. 'Jump Hi''s kinetic funk loopВ makes up for a lazy Childish Gambino guest verse, pasted onto the track like a placeholder for a better substitute the label never delivered. 'Wonder Woman,' an anti-cat calling song produced by Pharrell (his atonement, perhaps, for ' Blurred Lines'?), doesnвЂ™t ping the brainвЂ™s pleasure centers like hisВ top-shelf work, but itвЂ™s pleasantly slinky, a nice throwback to the snappy R&B tracks the Neptunes used to pump out in the mid-'00s. So far they donвЂ™t have those hits, of course, but theyвЂ™ve come up with enough passable facsimiles to fill a pretty likeable album. There are no experimental digressions that might alienate the dance floor, no nods to the salad days of Brainfeeder or Ice Cream Records simply for the sake of bolstering the duoвЂ™s music-nerd cred. And while they update these styles with the airy, wide-open production aesthetic of modern alternative R&B, their songs are rooted squarely in pop. On their debut album Begin, singer Jillian Hervey (the daughter of actress Vanessa Williams) and producer Lucas Goodman (who records under the deceptively Def Jux-y sounding nom de plume Astro Raw) shuffle between disco, house, and neo-soul.

Lion babe begin zippyshare