It was the press release that first indicated the troubles ahead. ‘His 4-octave range and amazing breath control continue to astound audiences’ it gushes. ‘It’s music like this that gives us hope for the human race’ it continues.
Now, first of all if you have to sell a record on the octave range of the singer it does not say a lot about the music over all. Whitney Houston has the most fantastic vocal range but she’s a soulless muppet who’s records only got vaguely interesting once she discovered cocaine, bad boy rappers and PVC (allegedly). Secondly if you decide to utilise the second statement you’d better be Bob Marley or John Lennon or Bob Dylan or Marvin Gaye because anything else is going to be a disappointment.
Certainly Nhojj has delusions of grandeur but his music has trouble living up to his own expectations. Nhojj trades in a hotchpotch of soul, jazz, R&B and reggae with that previously mentioned voice warbling and weaving all over the place. It is always a surprise when you hear a voice as technically brilliant as Nhojj’s that so utterly lacks any sort of heart felt emotion. All substance, no feeling. Admittedly his lyrics don’t help ‘Well if this is what we want for our children / Why don’t we want it for ourselves? / war is never the answer, so lift your voice call for / …..peace’. Yeah man, that’s beautiful what’s the song called? Oh ‘Peace’, yeah, inspirational, tofu anyone?
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Although raised in the Caribbean it is obvious that Nhojj has spent far too much time in America. Only a certain strain of American could actually stand up and utter such, banal, overly earnest shite like that with a straight face. The other songs range from ‘Free’ to ‘A New Me’ to ‘Fighting for Love (The Warrior’s Song)’ which is a personal favourite just for the immortal lines ‘The enemy is ignorance / the enemy is hate / I am a warrior / I’m fighting for love’ Hear me roar!
The album’s pace ranges from funeral to sedentary with the occasional respite into reggae. The only moments of any worth are ‘Lost / Found’ and the highlight ‘U’. The latter is a rather lovely skanking reggae number with the vocals turned down in the mix. It is, however, small respite in a mind numbingly tedious journey.
It seems a shame that such a natural talent, this amazing voice, can be put to such banal use. Perhaps it’s time for Nhojj to discover cocaine, bad boy rappers and PVC because ‘Peace, Love and Freedom’ is doing him no good at all.
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