The Long Way Round by Maya Delilah
'The Long Way Round' by Maya Delilah
The term “jazzy” can feel pejorative, especially when applied to successful female performers from Sade and Cassandra Wilson to Diana Krall and Norah Jones. When applied to a younger woman, it can feel even more so.
It doesn’t have to feel that way, though, as the above artistes have proven. Maya Deliliah, a 24-year-old English singer, songwriter, and guitarist, strides toward very strong if not incontrovertible proof on her debut full-length, The Long Way Round.
After capturing and nurturing a fanbase with modern methods—TikTok, Instagram, and EPs—Delilah comes across with tastefulness here, working with multiple experienced producers and session players, including English pop duo Aquilo and drummer Aaron Sterling, who’s kept the beat for Taylor Swift and John Mayer.
With all that support, Delilah swiftly establishes the breadth of her influences. “Maya Maya Maya” finds her touching pop-folk buttons almost as deftly as Madeleine Peyroux does; “Necklace” could entrance louche lounge lizards as much as almost anything by Lana Del Rey; and “Did I Dream It All” elevates lachrymose piano balladry near Brandi Carlile’s heights.
She goes further out a handful of times, as on “Squeeze,” a Chaka Khan groove that gets slyer (in the Prince sense, not the Sly Stone sense) about the funk as it goes along, or as on “Actress,” which combines bongos, French coolness, and sampling to recall Santana, Stereolab, and Soul Coughing.
Delilah draws the styles together with singing that risks being too mannered, too controlled by breath exercises, before it reveals willed sweetness and emotional maturity that add more soul to the good and bad romances of “Look at the State of Me Now” and “Never With You.”
She’s also confident enough as a guitarist not to have to show off, although the wordless “Jeffrey” pleasurably meanders through the breezier side of the Allman Brothers. The Long Way Round gives Maya Delilah’s talents a suitably Blue Note presentation: jazzy in a smart way.
|
|
Get The Long Way Round at Amazon here.
Paid link
