When Laura Mvula dropped her flawless debut album Sing to the Moon in 2013, she drew instant comparisons to Nina Simone. It’d be easy to roll your eyes and dismiss the comparison as par-for-the-course hyperbole. Simone, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin are hackneyed music critics’ go-to reference points for almost any up & coming woman musician – especially if she’s black – who can actually sing on key while delivering even a modicum of heart or soul. Rarely does the comparison actually make any sense; with Mvula it was more than apt.
Classically trained like Simone, Mvula not only has an exquisite ear but an affinity for complex compositions and arrangements that are never merely academic exercises. Her music is soulful, often emotionally devastating. Also like Simone, Mvula is fiercely race-conscious, with her dark skin and African features pointedly celebrated in her music videos while her lyrics challenge the status quo (“I will never be what you want and that’s alright / ‘Cause my skin ain’t light and my body ain’t tight / And that’s alright / But if I might, I must stand and fight” – from the song “That’s Alright”). And, in a darker bond with the late Simone, Mvula has in recent months been forthcoming about her sometimes debilitating battles with depression.
Laura Mvula photographed for Hat-trick Design/ Almacantar
Just ahead of the release of her critically acclaimed sophomore album The Dreaming Room, Mvula’s affinity for and similarities to Nina Simone were the subject of the BBC documentary Nina Simone & Me, Presented by Laura Mvula. In it, the singer goes to New York and slips into fan-girl mode as she explores Simone’s life and artistry in conversations with people who knew her. Clips of both artists are used to illustrate key points, as Mvula retraces Simone’s footsteps and keeps the focus primarily on her heroine’s art. It’s a chance for Mvula fans (or art and music fans in general) to see a young artist seriously engage with that which has fed and inspired them, investigating their idol’s creative process and illuminating something of their own.
Previously on Art Doc of the Week:
Top photo by Julian Broad
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