So which Meshell Ndegeocello have we got here, on her new album Synonym? Is it the mercurial jazz bassist, or is it the nu-soul diva? Is it the singer on the fringes of hip-hop, or is it the pop polymath with fingers in each these pies and more? Probably the latter, given the exhausting range of potential styles summonsed forth by the extraordinarily diverse range of songs and guests. Synonym is a further Ndegeocello excursion into Coverland, where she gives her idiosyncratic polish to the concept of abstract musodiversity.
The prodigious Ndegeocello has racked up an impressive 16 albums, Synonym included, where she is the featured name, stemming back to 1993, together with a rack of guest and/or session appearances across a further 28. Encompassing all genres and bases, she has mixed her own material with a healthy regard for covers. These have notably included a whole disc revisiting songs made famous by Nina Simone, Pour une Âme Souveraine, and Ventriloquism, which took shot at a range of ’80s into ’90s R’n’B redoubtables. This time around there is an almost scattergun approach, as she tackles all comers. The Human League and Bob Dylan share her table with Tammy Wynette and J-Lo, just for starters. Moreover, Synonym is an all-duet album, calling in such conceivably disparate spirits as AHOHNI and Cynthia Erivo, Bill Callahan and Chaka Khan. Ooooooooooooookaaaaaay………
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