The latest R&B sound is music with a 'Timbaland' groove, and now 'NEW FLAVA VOL 2; THE PROJECT' offers British gospel artists like Melanie Ephson, Ray Lewis and Eska with a Timbaland R&B vibe. George Luke reports.



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"I met Austin (Aggrey-Odoom, owner of the Excess record label) who initiated the project, and he played me the first album," she recalls. "I just said: 'Who wrote that? Who produced it?' Up until then. I hadn't heard anything British that didn't sound British. This sounded very American, and I thought it was of u much better standard than anything I'd heard, particularly in the R&B genre. I said: 'I'd do anything to work with this guy. Please, please, please let me meet him! Please, I want to work with him!'

"I particularly appreciate the opportunity to work with a group of Christians who are not afraid of doing stuff that can be seen or classified as 'secular' music -and Christians that maybe also have a vision about going into the secular arena, and feel a calling to be in the secular arena, which can be a very frightening and difficult arena to be a Christian in. To have that support around me, knowing that everyone's of a like mind, is top."

Secular. The dreaded S-word. Usually followed by the equally dreaded C-word (C*o**o*er). Both bound to upset more than a handful of Christians, especially when they notice the other difference between Vol. 2 and its more in-your-face -with-the-gospel-message predecessor. It's all right for Christian artists to want to be salt and light out in the big, bad world; trouble is, there are many gospel fans who don't go in for all this lyrical subtlety business - and they have a habit of making that crystal clear.

"There will be some controversy," says Melanie. "There already is." "Oh, most definitely!" echoes Eska. "The thing is," says Paul, "even though I say they're not based just on Christian terms, when you listen to the songs, you'll find that they can be interpreted in a Christian way, because that was the whole concept of the writing; that even though we didn't say 'Jesus,' as Christians we were referring to Jesus, whereas if people in the secular market listen to it, if they prefer to say 'Bill,' or their boy/ girlfriend, it's up to them to choose to. They know we're Christians, so when we sing it, this is what we mean. If people want to take it somewhere else, that's totally up to them, but we want them to know what our stance is.

"We're doing it in this way so that people will listen to it - and, knowing our standpoint, will then make up their minds about what they think Christians are about. We are real people; we are about living right, and doing the right thing, but we don't just have to say 'Jesus Jesus' in every song."

"Definitely," says Eska. "Being a Christian is about living and acting out what Jesus would be like, and what he does. We are an extension of Jesus' arms, his mouth and his feet. The world is desperate to hear not just about who Jesus is - which is very important, and they do need to hear it, and of what he's done for all of us - they also need to know what he's like. And often, people don't know what Jesus is like. They assume that they know, and we get all the caricatures, but they never really know what Christians believe on certain issues: how would they approach issues in relationships, for example. They assume they know what Jesus would do, or what Christians should be doing, and they're quite happy to tell Christians off on what they think Christians should be doing - as well as some Christians are quite happy to tell other Christians what they should be doing. But often we don't know. It's nice to have something of which we can say: 'Listen to this - I'm telling you something, and this is from my heart, and God's heart too,' and I'm not saying 'Jesus Jesus Jesus' to you; I'm not beating you over the head with biblical terminology; I'm just telling you about the love of God - and I'm telling it to you in a natural, flowing way."

"Everyone on this project was prepared for some kind of controversy," says Paul. "It was something I knew we were going to come up against, anyway. But if you listen to every song on the album, they're all very positive. As Eska was saying, it speaks about life in general. I don't think there's one song that doesn't, except, perhaps, for the instrumental -but then, its title ('Heaven') speaks for itself! Every song is about relationships: with family, your partner, or with the Lord. It's all very positive, and it's about life. The music's the 'new flava'; if you listen to the album itself, you'll learn from it. It's an album about life; that's what we tried to portray, and I think we did a good job of it." "Music can change people's feelings, says Melanie. "It's important that we take part in influencing people through what they listen to. We want to be those people who influence people's thought or action patterns through music. You don't have to listen to 'slack' lyrics to feel good; you can listen to good music with positive lyrics."

So far, the ploy has worked. The album's getting radio airplay as far afield as Denmark, and the R&B arm of the music press has warmed to it. Musically, the album predominantly features the more recent variant of swing/R&B commonly known as 'Timbaland' (after the producer who popularised the style). "The most pleasing comment I've had in the press," says Paul, "was that I'd taken Timbaland to another level. I thought, 'Wow!' That was just the kind of thing I wanted to hear. I do believe that if you can do a sound that's already out there, but somehow make it your own, that's what it's all about. I don't believe anybody's totally original - people are always doing something from something - but if you can own it, people will say it's your sound.

As we went along with making the album, we were looking for singles. We had to bear in mind that we were making an album, and that everything had to slot in somehow, but singles came off according to how we felt and quite a few tracks have been recognised as singles - which people here won't plug (laughs all round).

A lot of people are taking songs off the radio; we're getting Single of The Week, things like that. 'Recommended Top 40' for some of them - stuff like that. (Radio 1's specialist soul DJ) Trevor Nelson's had songs at no. 15 and 20 on his Hit List; we had the whole Top Five on the Echoes magazine chart we've been getting a lot of good feedback. Occasionally, we've had a telling off for some of them, but the majority has been very strongly positive, for people who follow this kind of music. You can't please everybody, because not everybody's into this kind of thing -especially with a slight Timbaland vibe in some of the tracks; some people find it a bit messy to listen to. But others find it spot-on. When you're doing a flavour, as much as you try to, you can't please everybody because not everybody's going to be into it. But we're pleased with the reactions so far -hopefully, we'll get a few Number Ones out of it."
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The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.