Notes & Personnel Info |  | Kindred the Family Soul: Aja Graydon, Fatin Dantzler. | | Personnel: Aja Graydon, Fatin Dantzler (vocals); Chuck Treece (guitar, keyboards, drums); Richard Tucker , Conley Whitfield, Grecco Buratto (guitar); Radji Mateen (saxophone, background vocals); Jarrett Miles, Daud Elbakara (trumpet); Jermaine Miles (trombone); James Poyser (piano); Tracy Carter (Fender Rhodes piano, organ); Dinky Bingham (keyboards, drum programming, background vocals); Julian Brown (drums); Steve McKie (drum programming). | | Additional personnel: India.Arie (vocals). | | Audio Mixers: Dave Pensado; Dinky Bingham; Dylan Dresdow. | | Recording information: A To Z Studios, Philadelphia, PA; Go Town Studios, Atlanta, GA; Rich Boy Studios, Philadelphia, PA; The Studio, Philadelphia, PA. | | Photographer: Whitney Thomas. | | The Ashford & Simpson of neo-soul, Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon, aka Kindred the Family Soul, continue their ongoing autobiography in song with their second album, In This Life Together, its title borrowed from a dual memoir by the husband-and-wife acting and activist team of Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis, who is quoted and name-checked in "The Quote (Interlude)." Typical of neo-soul recordings, the music, provided by a succession of multi-instrumentalist composer/producers (Yameen, Dinky Bingham, Boy Genius, Kristin Price, Chuck Treece, Easy Mo Be, Elise Perry, Anthony Bell, etc.), is mid-tempo, synthesizer-and-drum-programming-driven approximations of 1970s soul in the manner of Marvin Gaye and Sly & the Family Stone, tricked out with contemporary hip-hop elements, including a couple of unnecessary guest raps. Over the tracks, Dantzler and Graydon improvise singsong melodies and intone repetitive hooks, but what really matters is not the music, it's the message. The couple are unabashedly autobiographical; you can't get through the first real song, "Thru Love," without knowing how many children they have and what their sexes are (a son and two daughters), and by the final track, "Bed Time Story," you're being informed, "Aquil has started a new school, and oooh he's doing well." Such details, however, only serve to make their material universal. In contrast to most urban music (and most pop music in general), the subjects here do not concern new love or love gone wrong, they are about the love continuing in a real, committed relationship, that of a contemporary, working-class African-American couple. That love faces many challenges -- the word "stress" turns up in no less than four songs (post-traumatic on one occasion), and "pressure" and "struggle" are repeated, too. Even in a mutual love song like "Thru Love," the singers pause to ask, "Still, who says it's gonna last forever?" But this is more than just couples therapy set to music. "Sneak a Freak" addresses the possibilities of intimacy sandwiched in between all of life's responsibilities; "Woman First" is Graydon's reflection on how her husband's love helps her get through daily strife ("Ever since I had the babies, I just don't feel the same"); and "Message to Marvin" is an update on Gaye's "What's Going On," with the chorus, "What the hell is going on?" There are also songs of faith ("As of Yet") and reflections on parents ("Struggle No More," which oddly contains a verse contributed and sung by India.Arie that is a complete non sequitur). In other words, the collection presents a full-scale portrait of life for a loving, struggling, contemporary couple with three kids trying to keep things together, a life not that different from most people's. That is actually a refreshing perspective to find expressed in popular music, and one a wide audience should be able to identify with. ~ William Ruhlmann | | Husband and wife team Fatin Danzler and Aja Gaynor, together Kindred the Family Soul, create music which could emanate only from two souls in spiritual touch, as they explore each other's dark and glorious passages and unfold the oft-forgotten sensuality in undying love. IN THIS LIFE TOGETHER builds on the immense promise of the duo's 2003 debut SURRENDER TO LOVE, as Kindred create lush, lolling landscapes crafted with bits of funk, hip-hop, and jazz of all shades. The power of the concoction is overwhelming on tracks like "Let It All Go," a song blending sensitive and sexy that recalls Al Jarreau, Billie Holiday, and Parliament. |
Producer: Anthony Bell; Chuck Treece; Dinky Bingham; Richard Tucker; Conley Whitfield; Tracy Carter; Julian Brown; Steve McKie; Kindred The Family Soul; Anthony Bell |
Engineer: Dinky Bingham |
Musical Guests | | India.Arie |
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