Spalding Releases Overambitious and Sprawling Concept Album

Two years ago, the name Esperanza Spalding meant little outside of niche jazz-radio shows and music conservatories. However, ears perked up following her Grammy win last year for Best New Artist. Immediately afterward, her album “Chamber Music Society” shot up to number 34 on the Billboard 200. Given her recent rise in popularity, now would seem as good a time as ever for Spalding to try to attract a broader audience. Her latest album, “Radio Music Society,” will be an introduction to Spalding’s career for many, but unfortunately it marks a low point in her overall work. In its diverse instrumentation, varying messages, and smorgasbord of different genres, “Radio Music Society” tries to appeal to a large influx of listeners hot on the tail of the next big thing. Although the album displays Spalding’s strong musicianship and composition, it lacks cohesiveness and emotional depth, and this Jill of all stylistic trades masters none.

Diverse instrumentation plays a crucial role in ”Radio Music Society,” if only to help distinguish between her takes on the many genres on the album. This is by far the largest departure from her established string-centric sound, and Spalding shows her impressive arranging prowess as she wields a wide array of sounds towards her mission of turning jazz once more into popular radio music. Spalding’s walking-bass lines are switched at times for a funky electric or rock grooves, as in the opening track, “Radio Song.” In various places on the album, her light, bouncing voice swoons sultrily in jazz club ballads. “Black Gold” buttresses all-female background vocals with a full choir, and synthesized riffs make regular appearances to add a little funk to the standard horn-and-brass jazz outfit. On “Let Her,” Spalding possesses a vocal delivery reminiscent of old-school hip-hop storytelling: “You just walked in to the quiet after the storm/ It’s chillingly silent/ And you sense that something’s wrong.”

Spalding branches out not only musically but also in subject matter, but in this case with mixed results. While Spalding powerfully addresses national themes of the African-American experience in “Land of the Free” and “Black Gold,” sappy love ballads like “Cinnamon Tree” and “Let Her” feel shallow and forced. The album is too grandiose in attempting to appeal to so many different sentiments. Spalding spends too little time with each lyrical concept, and as a result, the album seems to lack true heartfelt emotion.

The final two tracks capture in a nutshell the album’s inability to easily flow through each style and genre. While “City of Roses,” with its soft, slow tempo, seems to be the perfect album ending, “Smile Like That” follows in the complete opposite style. It is a mid-tempo, meandering jam session in which only the guitarist really seems to get his full worth. Eventually, the lively, heavy rock-guitar solo and fat synth pads fade out and a ponderous silence remains, and with it comes a feeling of waiting rather than completion.

”Radio Music Society” displays Spalding’s spirit as a trailblazer and multi-talented musician, but due to a lack of profound emotion, the album mostly threatens to underrepresent her talent. ”Radio Music Society” may make jazz more accessible—even with the inclusion of solos—but at what cost? Perhaps this is merely a good career move or a transition step to the greater wealth Spalding can show in the future. Spalding is at her strongest when she hones in on one style and develops her emotional themes fully, as seen on her eponymous second album.

The hipsters have a point: there’s something to be said about the dangers of casting one’s net too wide and going “mainstream.” “Radio Music Society” is the tapas bar experience of Spalding’s oeuvre: she provides small, exquisite tastes of a large selection of genres without providing a satisfying full meal. Although “Radio” will surely appeal to many, especially those with soul and jazz backgrounds, it may not be strong enough to cause the wide public to stick around to hear her next explorations.