Brussels-based artist Adja recently released her debut album Golden Retrieve Her (get it?), and it’s an undeniably impressive body of work from the newcomer.
This contemporary album showcases eleven stories, each discussing the impact that our capitalistic society has on our most intimate moments. From dystopian neo-soul tales of Deliveroo-drivers being stalked by telemarketers, to re-imagined jazz standards and classical songs about conditional friendships based on time and money. Serious and concrete topics, wrapped up in a symbolic package, as Adja values both straightforwardness, critical thinking, and paradoxically, a bit of mysticism.
Talking about the title track, Adja explains “‘Golden Retrieve Her’ is a wordplay on wanting to retrieve my kindness in a violent social system. Simultaneously, it is criticizing the fact that we, the masses, are often asked to either be naive or pretend we are. All of this accumulated in a visual image of what our social system considers ‘the perfect, obedient nuclear family’: a kind couple with 2.4 children, a house in the suburbs and… a Golden Retriever.”
Adja translates through jazz, soul, gospel, and her ever-expanding and transforming experience of reality, simultaneously using the creative process as a vehicle to make known to herself the answer to those inner questions. Her goal is making her spiritual path in this life as tangible as possible. A force of nature on stage with warm, sensual vocals, fans of the likes of Erykah Badu, Solange, and Lianne La Havas will feel at home here.
Golden Retrieve Her is in stores now via SDBAN.
