Mia Paylor offers her latest installment of her popular In With The New series!
Micah Smith - All of My Heart (March 2012)
Website: http://www.singmicah.com
Must-Have Tracks: “Make A Way”, “Give Thanks”, “Against the Wall”, “Early”, “Walk By Faith”, “Back to You”, “No More”, “Never Gonna Let You Go”, “With You”
All of My Heart is for the music lovers. I’m not talking about the kind of music lover that just likes to casually listen to hot music. We all want to hear hot music. I’m talking about the kind who can’t listen to music without making faces, playing your air guitar, singing instrumental solos, and hollering at the radio when you hear a tight lick or harmony. I’m talking about the music lover who really appreciates fine musical instrumentation and precision. I’m talking about the music lover who wants it churchy, jazzy, soulful, funky, and gritty…and done with real instruments. All of My Heart is for YOU.
“Make A Way” is a sophisticated, cool approach to a quartet feel. “Give Thanks” (one of my all-time favorite church songs) gets a spiffy facelift. This. Song. Moves. Latin-jazz, y’all. The only thing missing was Sheila E.!
Do you remember the game show, The Price Is Right? Well, “Against the Wall” uses its theme song as a big band backdrop. And, while both “Early” and “Walk By Faith” have a neo-soul vibe, “Walk By Faith” shows Micah Smith straying from his straight-forward and precise tenor vocals to play around with his falsetto range. Imagine what D’Angelo might do on a smoothed out, mid-tempo track. That’s just what Micah’s doing here…and quite well.
“No More” is a mid-tempo mixture of soft rock and pop with great lyrics and a strong declaration that we should turn away from the sin that so easily besets us. “Never Gonna Let You Go” is a moving, gospel-tinged ballad with the most pleasantly unexpected ear candy happening behind the vocals. “With You” rocks out with the best B-section in the entire collection.
Although a few of the songs did seem a bit repetitious after a while, overall, I believe All of My Heart is a very strong solo introduction.
Micah Smith, a native of Baltimore, Maryland and a Morgan State University alumnus, is a singer, songwriter, composer, and musician. He’s shared the stage with many well-known artists ranging from Donnie McClurkin, Kim Burrell, and Karen Clark-Sheard to Roberta Flack, Kenny Lattimore, Wynton Marsalis and more. Micah is also a member of the illustrious Soulful Symphony (headed by Darin Atwater…check them out) and a background singer for recording artist, Jason Nelson.
All of My Heart gets my stamp of approval, folks. Download this one today!
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Backed by his group, FIYA, James Fortune presents a high-energy, but often heartfelt, collection of music that will appeal to a broad audience.
