I was introduced to Rox by my roommate who keeps raving about her voice and how she doesn’t waste a note. Well, all I can say is that he’s right. One listen to this south London singer’s voice and it would be impossible not to fall in love with it!
Roxanne Tataei, also known as Rox, is only 21 years old, but has already been around long enough to garner a fan base that includes guitarist and music producer Mark Ronson and Nitin Sawhney, snagged a record deal with Rough Trade Records, and has come out with a debut album that lends an impressive new twist to the feel of Sixties Soul! Her debut album Memoirs is co-produced by Commissioner Gordon. Commissioner had previously worked with Lauryn Hill and Al-Shux, who produced Jay-Z’s Empire State Of Mind. Memoirs deals mostly with the theme of relationships and the spirit of youthful romanticism.
The album opens with an emotional soul ballad backed by a powerful chorus — No Going Back, which sets your expectations for the rest of the album. Fortunately, Rox does not disappoint with the tracks that follow. Page Unfolds is a track where the singer actually displays what she can do with her voice. This song is a beautiful blend of classy song writing skills and a mastery over her voice that would leave you speechless. Oh My is yet another soft soul rendition that would make you sway in dreamy silence. With the tracks Do As I Say and the reggae-infused Rocksteady, Rox seems to have borrowed from the likes of Lauryn Hill and Sade whose sound and style she has often admitted to as being among her biggest influences. As for my favourite from this entire album, it would be the song that introduced me to Rox in the first place — My Baby Left Me. This song has been doing rounds on the internet since late 2007 after which Rough Trade signed her on and officially released it. Though not included in the album, you can find an acoustic version of the track on YouTube, which in my opinion is a rendition superior to the studio version.
In most cases, you would expect the usual clichés when you put together a new singer and a debut album that is based on a theme such as this. Of course, some of the clichés do hold true in this case with regard to the lyrics on tracks such as Heart Ran Dry and Breakfast In Bed, but Rox has delivered even the most cliché-seeming lyrics with so much emotion and her powerful voice just guides you effortlessly from one track to the next. My verdict? Simply put, I’m floored! Well, this woman and her voice just remind you why they call this music Soul.