Spell My Name

Recorded for Island, Spell My Name follows the Def Jam-issued Sex & Cigarettes by only two years. Thats the shortest period between proper Toni Braxton studio albums. Granted, this is similarly compact, even with its appended tracks: the solo version of the pre-album single Do It, and another Babyface collaboration, a devotional ballad grounded in classic Southern soul that doesnt fit with what precedes it. The title song is pulsing modern quiet storm concerning a dalliance with a lover half Braxtons age, played by duet partner Johnny Yukon with Drake-like deference (thereby flipping the standard older man/younger woman scenario more than her Trey Songz collaboration a decade earlier). Apart from the finely applied strings and a sense of temptation, its not really representative of the album. Braxton spends the rest of the set succumbing to desire recognized as ill-fated, mourning unfulfillment, waving off a cheating ex, and swearing during the emotional peak -- in one of many piano ballads -- that she wishes nothing but the best for the one who got away, while each wrenched note conveys devastation. Only the pleasant if indistinctive neo-disco opener is uptempo. The rest is mostly glowering ballads and conflicted slow jams, exemplified by the smoldering slow stepper Move On, featuring the compatible H.E.R. on sympathetic background vocals and guitar. Braxtons elegant distress cuts through everything with conviction. ~ Andy Kellman

ミッシー・エリオットの客演/リミックスした先行カット"Do It"でアダルトR&Bチャート首位を記録したヴェテランが、佳作『Sex & Cigarettes』から2年という短いスパンでアイランド移籍作を発表した。"Do It"のオリジナルを手掛けたアントニオ・ディクソンが制作の主軸を担い、冒頭の"Dance"はベンジャミン・ライトとデモンテ・ポージーに管弦を委ねた意外なディスコ仕立て。その例外的なノリを除けば基本はディープな本領発揮のスロウで、H.E.R.との"Gotta Move On"やクリス・ブレイドによる"Saturday Night"、クワイエット・ストームな表題曲などが穏やかに並ぶ。ベイビーフェイスが伝統的なサザン・ソウル作法で仕立てた"Nothin'"もエレガント。彼女が参加したケムの新作とも併せて聴きたい一枚だ。
bounce (C)轟ひろみ