Home is a loose concept. A person’s physical location is not necessarily where their thoughts and emotions are centred. The third album from ALA.NI is a classic example of this paradox. It may have been written in Paris during the freezing winter of 2023 but the impact of a sojourn in Barbados, Grenada (where her parents grew up) and Jamaica over the preceding two and a half years is written all over ‘Sunshine Music’. It is apparent in the lyrical preoccupations but also in the genre-hopping music which takes in elements of calypso, reggae, jazz, bossa nova and even showtunes. Consequently, there is a relaxed, sun-drenched vibe to the music which is co-produced by French jazz fusion musician, Clement Petit, who is known for his tributes to Ryuichi Sakamoto with the band Asynchrone.
ALA.NI’s voice which has justifiably been compared to Sade Adu and Minnie Riperton is a delight, understated and uncategorisable albeit with noticeable jazz and soul inflections. In the past it has led to her collaborating with an unusual variety of artists from Iggy Pop on her 2020 album, ‘ACCA’, through to Jon Batiste, Andrea Bocelli, Blur, Nitin Sawhney and Mary J. Blige. It is apparent in all its glory in the opening song ‘Seaweed’, a tale of swimming in Jamaica, its musical mood set by chilled and minimalist beats together with guitar embellishments and melodic flourishes. Written under the duvet in the French winter, ‘Summer Meadows’ is a classic piece of wish fulfilment. Bright from its opening guitar-picking, it picks up pace with its beats, contrabass which is Petit on cello, before carnivalesque horns and trumpets are added by Okiel McIntyre, a Jamaican who was in Paris to play with The Skatalites, giving it a joyous swing which is encapsulated in the sentiment, “haven’t seen a grey cloud in the sky / for what feels like a million days.”
‘Something You Said’ maintains the dreamy feel with a lightness to its bossa nova sway, albeit with a tension that comes in its contemplation of whether an instant connection could be damaged if the friendship moved beyond the platonic. The way in which ALA.NI bends her voice around the dampened jazz chords on ‘Hey Moon’ is exquisite.
While the early tracks could give the impression that ‘Sunshine Music’ is all happiness and light, it is not a politics and history free zone. ‘Tief’ deals with the need for reparations and the impact of generational trauma and the accumulation of one-sided wealth. ALA.NI’s voice, which has considerable range, is deeper and more assertive on this song which has a swagger to its tango bolero style and its sample from ‘The Slave’ by The Mighty Sparrow. It is justifiably hard-hitting in its description of racial abuses and what was “pillaged and raped” but is confident in insisting, “all my life / I’ve been black / Now I’m ready to take back / My pride / I’ll keep that / My riches / I need that.” Although ‘Blue Mountains’ has a gloriously at ease with itself jazz and bossa nova groove to its story of hiking around the mountains with a walking group and vocals that soar and dip gloriously, it is tinged with the sad awareness that it is not safe to walk around Jamaica freely.
Her voice flutters sensually over understated jazz guitar on ‘Don’t Want To Hate You’, an autobiographical piece about how what started as instant sexual attraction can be turned into solid friendship. ‘Rain on my Heart’ is based on another encounter in Jamaica with a man whose deep weight of sorrow was apparent. There is an ache to her voice and while her desire to help him is clear from the lines, “and I walk with you through the rain / towards the sun”, there is a muted feel to the song, from its opening guitar chords through to its horns.
Formed from guitar parts sent to her by Marvin Dolly which were then chopped up and restructured, ‘This Is Why’ questions ALA.NI’s unwillingness to accept love. Her voice on this number is reverie-inducing in its feverish quality. ‘Best of Me’ is a sweet and tender tribute to the late Tony O’Saul who was a mentor to her growing up in North London who encouraged ALA.NI to pursue singing rather than dancing; the song’s minimal arrangement adds to its impact.
Closing track ‘Ton Amour’ is reminiscent of ‘A Seat at the Table’ era Solange, which is a high accolade. ALA.NI’s voice goes to some extraordinary places in a song about a hybrid of two lovers, one of whom was in Jamaica and was emotionally manipulative. It leaves her sadly acknowledging in the album’s accompanying notes that Jamaica has one of the world’s highest femicide rates. As such, it could make for a downbeat conclusion to the record but for the song being such an emotional peak of voice, reggaeton rhythms and melody.
As Autumn sets in, ‘Sunshine Music’ acts as a welcome travelogue, providing light through music. Its arrangements make an ideal accompaniment to perfectly showcase a wonderful voice and songs that are complex but exude an impressive positivity.
ALA.NI: Sunshine Music – Out 19 September 2025 (No Format!)
– SUMMER MEADOWS (Official Video)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
