Anonamas or Anonymous? (written for Nu-Soul, never published)

Artist: Anonamas
Title: Truth Thru Fiction
Label: Infinite Soul Music
Genre: Other/2-step/Alternative

By Marcus Scott

At the start of Truth Thru Fiction by African boho-glam funk songstress Anonamas, music lovers are transported into a futuristic wilderness, where the crackling of twigs from the hooves of the native animals can be heard and the sound of electric keys rip through the airwaves. But the jazzy ambience of the “Welcome Intro” revs up an engine that has a few kinks in it, and occasionally overheats from time to time, musically speaking that is.

The problem with the record is, it feels dated. Where neo-soul favorites Erykah Badu and Jill Scott left their indigenous Afrocentric dashikis and infamous hair warp days to focus on ever-changing images, Anonamas finds her record the product of the been-there-done-that status. A sound that fuses UK’s Floetry and D’Angelo’s “Brown Sugar” days, Truth Thru Fiction only “bites” on the simplicity of 70s soul power anthem and early 90s hip-hop soul era, creating a synthetic awareness that has dumb down the title of the album more so than the atmosphere it would intend.

“Beautiful Thang” for example, a moody piece featuring Blak Mamba sounds like a Erykah Badu revamp, with the works: chorale backbeats and jazz lounge riffs. Remember “Certainly”? Subtract Badu’s Afro-Rasta charm and add Anonamas’ melissma breakbeat soul staccato and you’ve got a song that would have been a radio runaway success had it been released doing the neo-soul epoch.

But, Anonamas is one artist that maybe around at the right time. While the neo-soul revival is in full-effect at the moment with artists like torch singer Chrisette Michele, lament-sopping diva Adele, coke-spoon chanteuse Amy Winehouse and blues songbird Corinne Bailey Rae—Anonamas may get her just deserts as an artists, and not as a failing cover artists with songs like “Little Girl’s Pea.” While the soca-bebop vocal of the young artist doesn’t sound sincere in artistry, the storytelling is what sells the song. A story about a young girl and her love affair with a boy and her plea to her mother to protect her from the outside world is nicely done, in many ways incorporating Anonamas’ worldview into the record—rarely done by artists nowadays.

What works for the album is the flow. Rather than bash the mystic safari shaman knack that’s worked for several R&B and soul artists over the last decade, the New Age feel of the record. Listen to “Africa,” an ode to the motherland by Ananomas herself. With bird imitation, a silky manufactured backdrop and a grungy yet poignant vocal by Ananomas is a nice cry for help for the dilapidating motherland and also, a nice reminder of where soul music finds its origins. The track is simply moving. Other tracks “This Moment” and “Still Here” are so great for car drives and self-meditation. The sleek and molasses slow-crawling “This Moment” and down-tempo synth-like “Still Here” thrives in the bowels of rest and relaxation making them the album stand-outs.

Over all, the album however sounds rehashed: It sounds like one song. There is no diversity, no odd instrumentalism, no wow-factor in terms of vocal, no eccentrics in the record’s personality. Its very a structured album and in many ways Ananomas doesn’t let her music breathe. “Gift of Pain” is something one would expect off of Sadé’s “Love Deluxe” to have been recorded: A sassy island breeze environmental backbeat mixed with a playful tribal funk soul. It’s a fantastic song. But where there could be a beautiful aria or a ship cruise jam session, all of which Sadé is known for, Ananomas doesn’t brighten her sound, and the record is over. It flat lines.

Truth Thru Fiction isn’t anything special. While’s the album has great cover art (mostly pictures of the artist walking through nightlife), the artist takes no chances and therefore, bores us. There are some gems, yet they hide in plain sight.

If you want to see her Myspace profile, go to: http://www.myspace.com/anonamas