"For us, it involves a whole process of getting it down, promoting it and touring with it. "Sade is a mother and she wanted to be home with her family." But, he added, there's more to releasing an album than gathering with friends and recording music. "This time it was about family," he said. Hale why the band takes such a long time between albums-it was eight years between "Lovers Rock" in 2000 and its predecessor "Love Deluxe." In "Bring Me Home," she writes, "I've been so close but far away from God / My tears flow like a child's in need of love." Her strongest subject is love, though-be it bitter or sweet, for a child or a deity. "Long Hard Road" is a tender ballad about confronting loss and moving on, "Babyfather" about what a father's love can mean to his child. The group has a reputation for its lights-down-low romantic hits like "Smooth Operator" and "The Sweetest Taboo," but Ms. Adu came to the sessions with notebooks filled with lyrics, Mr. "Anything that feels like it's coming from technical prowess, we tend to shy away from that," Mr. Adu and not draw attention to their skills.
In their 27th year together, the members of Sade understand their role is to provide alluring support under Ms. Even when things can be quite regimented, they can be softened or darkened." Hale said, adding that on the new album, "There's a sonic quality that's crisp and crunchy. We're described as slick, but there's not a conscious effort to be smooth," Mr. "We always wanted to make music with a certain rawness. Dissonance is a stranger to Sade's music, but amid the sweetness emerges the occasional raspy guitar or haunting chord on electric keyboards. "Babyfather" has a reggae feel, a familiar touchstone in the band's music, but it's sweetened by a touch of country-soul guitar and a choir comprising Ms. "Be That Easy" has a country lilt, and "In Another Time" is an old-fashioned soul stroll with gorgeous, unexpected changes. The title track is built on jabbing synth strings and a military drum cadence. Adu's multitracked voice over a plucky electric guitar and behind-the-beat percussion.īut the band toys with the formula. The opening track, "The Moon and the Sky," rises from a slinky guitar and crisp percussion that support Ms. Adu's unmistakable voice, which is both earthy and angelic, immediately evoke memories of the band's earlier works. Much of the music on "Solider of Love," and the Nigerian-born Ms. For a while, we were feeling guilty about being fairly unfocused." (See for a video on the making of the album and to hear several tracks.) We'd find fragments we kept going back to. "We'd get something down, then chop and change. "It's the result of four people who know each other intimately," he said. In the studio, the quartet played until it found its groove and the music began to take form. We understand the connection and we deal with that." But the band, which also includes bassist Paul Denman, came in with no expectations of what "Soldier of Love" ought to sound like. "Programming seems like such a superficial word now," he said, adding that he and guitarist Stuart Matthewman arrived with songs stored in their laptops.
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Now just about every modern musician knows how to record digitally. Hale was listed as responsible for programming, which more or less meant he had expertise in digital recording and editing.
"In the beginning, it felt like a four-week holiday with best friends."īut much has changed in the past 10 years in how pop records are made. "To be honest, we were catching up," said Mr.
9 release, he told me they spent a while in the studio reconnecting after their long hiatus. When we spoke by phone recently, in advance of the album's Feb. It didn't seem like a decade to the quartet's members either, said Andrew Hale, who plays keyboards and contributes to composing the music. Once we do, it seems like only yesterday that we last welcomed these old friends. It presents itself and allows us to nestle in.
Much like Sade's previous albums, which have sold more than 17 million copies world-wide, "Soldier of Love" doesn't pander to current trends. Throughout the 10 tracks, Sade Adu's voice floats over a light, meticulously rendered jazzy pop mix. In "Soldier of Love" (Sony), its first new disc in a decade, the British band Sade adds to its reputation for making music that's supple, sensual and pensive. 'Soldier of Love' doesn't pander to current trends