Whilst perhaps not quite signalling a return from the dead, last year’s Landing On A Hundred did herald a musical reincarnation for the wayward soul genius that is Cody ChesnuTT. Coming ten years after his first, and up until then only album The Headphone Masterpiece – a hugely imperfect, meandering and occasionally magnificent double CD – Landing On A Hundred was recorded with a ten piece band in Memphis’s Royal Studios where ChesnuTT got to sing on the actual microphone that Al Green had recorded with many years before. Reminiscent in content and style to Green’s struggle between the secular and the spiritual in his life, Landing On A Hundred charts ChesnuTT’s reawakening, his reinvention and eventual redemption after years spent in the wilderness. It is a triumphant slice of deep Southern 70s soul recreated for the modern age.
The album’s lead track, Till I Met Thee, complete with an accompanying video by Terence Nance, is scheduled for single release on 18th March 2013. In a voice redolent of both Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield at their very peak and a sound that captures the classic soul flavour of that period, ChesnuTT sings of his personal and spiritual transformation and regardless of whatever beliefs you may or may not hold, it is impossible not to be swept along by the warmth and sincerity of his sentiments. Like Gaye’s opus What’s Going On did before it, Til I Met Thee holds purity, love and a deep yearning for a better tomorrow close to its heart. If you are to do only one thing today, do yourself a huge big favour and watch/listen to this.
Due to be released 18th March 2013
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