The new Neneh Cherry sings about the "fuck of life", about private and political errors. But the weapons of Broken Politics are neither the raised fist nor the rage. Her sword of the hour: "Love, Baby". She extends the first vowel to "Löööv". In Cherrys Martial Arts there are points for love and beauty that may be brittle and develop their power from it. "Hard times make good songs", she laughs deeply.

It's a beauty that brings out memories like in the spacious ballad "Synchronized Devotion". A stairwell in New York, the scent of hair fat and fried chicken, and people who dance slowly, in this house of their youth one cultivates the "slow jam". In the piano figure, a vibraphone, which plays slim lines, creeps no broad chords. They came from Karl Berger, born 80 years ago in Heidelberg, emigrated to the USA a long time ago. Berger played with Neneh's stepfather, the trumpeter Don Cherry. As direct and beautiful as the portraits made by German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans for Art Work.

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New Album by Neneh Cherry: Gentle, Loving, Political

But what does that have to do with the fucking life that so sweetly praises Neneh Cherry? She says: "I remember this slowness as a great force, you come from the outside, it was stressful on the street, and then you go into such a house full of smells, sounds and slow dances."

The process of memory also returns as a musical biography. Marimbas, Caribbean basses that recall the reggae of Cherry's London punk era, with her friend Ari Up from The Slits, for example. British trip hop rescued reggae in the 1990s, and Cherry's husband Cameron McVey helped with the early Massive Attack. McVey gains influence on "Broken Politics", audible on the two, at most three rather average songs on an otherwise outstanding album. Ironically, the first single "Kong" belongs in the midfield, a Trip Hop Retronummer.

Sovereign reaction from Neneh Cherry

When she presents the new album in Berlin in August, a lot of things wobble unintentionally. The band of older men and young women looks sympathetic, but not yet recorded. Neneh Cherry herself spits texts like sounds a couple of times. Amazing is not the vulnerability of the performance, but the sovereign reaction of the boss. Cherry holds his hand like a pistol to his head and sings on with that gesture. The next day she says, "Dubbing would be a bit silly!"

The fags are especially noticeable to those who had already heard "Broken Politics" at the concert. In addition to the vibraphone of "Professor Karl Berger", as Cherry calls him, there are many acoustic instruments in the electronic framework, such as harps and percussion. Even a saxophone can be heard as a sample from Ornette Coleman, the main partner of Don Cherry. Kieran Hebden has done a prodigious production of producers, such a wide sound horizon is rarely heard on a pop album.

The 42-year-old Briton Hebden, who is called Four Tet's solo, has already recorded Cherry's comeback album, the much grimmer "The Blank Project" four years ago. Noisy drums and electronics from the pit of the stomach drove the singer on the offensive. The new album is a reaction to the last one. Cherry speaks of "collapse" and says, "Now I wanted to do something gentler, I do not want to throw myself on the ramp anymore and feel more than a woman of my age, at 54 years old."

Sometimes it sounds like "Broken Records", as if the microphone would reach into Cherry's mouth. Everything becomes sound: tongue, palate, smacking, the zap, the hops. Sometimes you hear nothing, the silence has its space. It is these holes that amplify the effect that this album, despite gentleness, does not say a cuddle. On the one hand, because memory is not harmless and the gaps point to the unsaid. For another, because Cherry uses beautiful old-fashioned means. Because she also sings as a figure, as a refugee, for example. This is an exercise in compassion and self-distance at the same time. "Broken Politics" is the proof that this is still possible. Cherry says, "I can sing as a character and join in. That's me!" Who can say that about himself?

Neneh Cherry : Broken Politics (Smalltown Supersound)

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