Shadow – Lizz Wright

Lizz Wright has a particular way of approaching sadness through her voice: deep, warm, and in no hurry to find consolation. On Shadow, released in 2024, the American singer returns to memories of her grandmother Martha, whom she considered the greatest love of her life. Her absence runs through eleven songs in which gospel, blues, jazz, and folk become different ways of remembering someone whose presence continues to shape how we understand the world.

Angélique Kidjo brings a luminous energy to “Sparrow,” an energy that takes a different form on “Your Love,” where Meshell Ndegeocello’s bass and Brandee Younger’s harp engage in a rhythmic conversation of extraordinary delicacy. On “Sweet Feeling,” Chris Bruce’s guitar and the Hammond organ bring the music back to its Southern roots, while Wright turns each phrase into a conversation that seems addressed to someone close to her.

There is a particular beauty in the way the album brings together seemingly distant musical traditions. “Lost in the Valley,” written by Caitlin Canty, features the violins of Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy, whose Carnatic musical language broadens the song’s expressive possibilities. On Cole Porter’s “I Concentrate on You,” Hanna Benn’s string arrangements accompany a performance that finds its intensity in subtle shifts of breath and in the attention Wright gives to every word.

Perhaps the most revealing moment comes with “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” by Sandy Denny. Her voice seems to linger over a question that becomes increasingly difficult to answer as the years pass. Shadow holds on to something of that uncertainty, but also to the gratitude of having known a love capable of accompanying us even after the person who gave it is gone.