Things Are Getting Better

As one might be able to discern from the title, Things Are Getting Better is a more optimistic second album from Jimetta Rose and her choir of fellow Los Angelenos named the Voices of Creation. Their debut together, How Good It Is, was all positive in thought but more connected to grief, given its closer proximity to 2020 and Roses loss of her mother and brother that January. Its opening reference to sunshine felt like the parting of curtains. "Portals," the first song here, impels listeners out the door -- the chorus beaming about "Stepping into portals chasin sunshine" -- to bask in daylight. A more obvious difference between this set and the first one is in the rhythms. While the organic How Good It Is was produced by Mario and Samantha Caldato with Allakoi Peete the only credited percussionist, Things Are Getting Better was guided by the team of Rose, Peete, and musical director/keyboardist Jack Maeby, and Peete is among five players credited with drum production. "Everyday Blessings" starts like a mid-80s slow jam with its simple if effective drum machine intro, and after lead vocalist Khalila Gardner Adelabu is joined in praise by the choir, it turns into funky gospel-house with boogieing synthesizer bass and hard drums. "Everywhere I Look (Love Is Everywhere)" is almost as joyously chaotic as the Pharoah Sanders spiritual jazz gem from which its built, nearly overloaded with its own saxophones, a heavy drum break, and turntablist accents that somehow dont obscure the voices. "To Each a Zone" is a buoyant self-focus mantra that references another early-70s recording, the vocal group Faith, Hope & Charitys "To Each His Own" (a part of Erykah Badus set lists for years). Any of the words of affirmation, wisdom, and self-love that might seem trite on paper are gully brought to life by Rose and company, who deliver them all with conviction and power in the face of global unrest. Besides, the harmonies are never not heavenly. ~ Andy Kellman