Australian singer CHELSEA WILSON is a music multi tasker, describing herself “a vocalist, songwriter, DJ, event producer, festival director, board director and broadcaster “. She won bags of plaudits with her 2015 long player, ‘I Hope You’ll Be Very Unhappy Without Me’ which was voted “Best Soul/Funk Album Of The Year” at the Victoria Music Awards in the land down under. That was followed in 2019 with a concise 9 tracker ‘Chasing Gold’ which, like its predecessor, won great reviews…. even earning “album of the week” status on some top soul sites.
Then of course came the pandemic but the hiatus didn’t hold Chelsea back. During the lockdowns she did a lot of co-writing and producing and the end result is an impressive ‘Women of Soul’ album due this summer. The name speaks for itself. Significantly, it’s one of the first albums in Australia to be produced by all-femme creatives – the album was entirely composed, recorded, mastered, performed and produced by over 25 women and female-identifying crew. The record features artists Kylie Auldist, Stella Angelico, Monique DiMattia and more with compositions by artists such as Thdno, Audrey Powne and Tamara Murphy.
Interestingly, to flag up the LP, Chelsea and the team have released not one but two singles – ‘I Am Enough’ featuring Candice Monique and ‘Lifeline’ featuring Rita Satch. The former is a lovely piece of contemporary soul with a melody (in places) a little like India. Arie’s ‘Video’. Interestingly the lyric delivers a similar message – a message of being accepted for what you are not what you’re meant to be. It really is a lovely record complete with a rhythmic monologue. The modern soul crowd should seek it out and espouse it . Don’t know too much about Ms Monique but she’s a fine soul stylist .. emotional and totally believable.
‘Lifeline’ is different again. This is a meandering neo-soul affair which is meant “as an anthem for anyone who feels like they’re caught in the storms of life. It’s a song about the power found in the choice to fight and to hold on to hope, no matter what obstacles lie ahead.” Again the vocals are convincing and both songs, though hammering home important messages, aren’t overtly po-faced or didactic… iron fists in velvet gloves! They bode well for the ‘Women in Soul’ album, coming June.
