Maiysha’s This Much Is True, marks the arrival of a striking new figure in contemporary soul music. The debut album from the Brooklyn-based writer/artist is elegant and intelligent, hook-laden and envelope-pushing – the kind of new sound that landed the first single “Wanna Be” a 2009 Grammy nomination in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category. It’s no wonder that Maiysha and producer/co-writer/Eusonia founder Scott Jacoby prefer to describe their joint creation as progressive soul.

The album’s dozen original songs, plus a radical reimagining of Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” reveal an artist blessed with a seductive voice, rarefied technical skill and acute emotional authenticity, as Maiysha examines the duality of striving and setbacks, strength and vulnerability, languor and urgency, sensuality and spirituality. The songs on ‘This Much Is True’ are rooted in the classic soul acts that first gave Maiysha her love of music- musicians like Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, Chaka Kahn, and others. But that sound is just the starting point for a disc that seamlessly blends hip-hop, pop, R&B, rock, jazz, cabaret, funk, drum and bass, and even the odd opera sample into a mesmerizing whole.

Maiysha’s second release, UnderCover, featuring a genre-bending set of drastically mashed-up cover songs, was recorded Live at the legendary Bluenote in New York City. Her Sledgehammer EP features several diverse dance/soul/hip-hop remixes and new recordings of her now-classic interpretation.

 

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