“Sky Blue” – Kabanya-Chemise

“Sky Blue”
Kabanya-Chemise
From her forthcoming CD Mosaic
(single available now; CD release date: April 2010)
http://kabanya-chemise.com

Singer-songwriter Kabanya-Chemise has worked alongside artists from Usher and Jennifer Holliday to Kurt Carr and Ann Nesby. She now takes her turn in the spotlight with “Sky Blue,” fusing gospel, R&B, and her classical training with the ’70s AM radio pop and soul sounds with which she grew up in Albany, Georgia.

“Sky Blue” is the first single from Kabanya’s debut CD Mosaic, due out this spring. The performance opens with menacing rumbles of thunder and a cloudburst of rain. Kabanya follows with gently rocking riffs about life’s inevitable ups and downs, “even if you live right,” but reminds us that God can “turn your midnight blue to sky blue.” The neo-soul ’70s vibe was so deliciously retro that by the end of the song, when the birds are chirping, I could see in my mind’s eye Minnie Riperton somewhere above, smiling with satisfaction.