it's complicated... by China Moses

I don't know where to begin except to say thank you—really, truly thank you.
Thank you for being curious enough to step inside this intense moment of creation that stretched between London and NYC, across time zones and heartbeats and the kind of musical magic that doesn't announce itself until it's already happening.

Terri Lyne Carrington - yes the one and only - listened to my previous album "Nightintales" and told me something I didn't understand at first: "You need to go home." Oli Rockberger lent me his incredible talent to shape and finalise the songs and later, Troy Miller, the producer of this album, said the same thing:
"You need to go home. You need to record in NYC."

I didn't get it, but I trusted. I've always trusted—sometimes blindly—trying to honor the wisdom and experience of the people who speak to me.

I was guided. I am not alone.

Troy and I spent hours talking about the sound we were chasing. He was insistent about one thing: he wanted to capture the essence of who I am on stage. "That deep voice," he said, "raspy, sometimes imprecise but always, always right." No one had ever described my voice that way—like imperfection was its own kind of perfection.

I was guided... I am not alone.

My musical sister, Lakecia Benjamin, was the first person I called. We had history—I'd sung on her album "Rise Up"—and she understood what this meant. Then Theo Croker, who's family in every way that matters. I reached out to Daru Jones because we'd had this project years back that never quite materialized, but damn if that man doesn't have a sound that hits different. Troy, who knows his way around a kit himself, heard the first measure of the demo for "My Part Of Town" and immediately asked: "Who's the drummer? Sounds like your rhythmic counterpart."
He was right. Daru and I have known for years that our sounds work beautifully together.

Mike King came through Theo—he was in his band and later became my mother's pianist when she was producing Theo. Theo brought trombonist Corey Wilcox, son of the great Wycliffe Gordon. Troy thought of his friend Michael Olatuja from their early days with Soweto Kinch. And Michael brought Marvin Sewell and Marvin brought 8 guitars...

I was guided. I am not alone.

But would everyone be free the same three days the studio was available? The same studio where Daru and I had recorded that earlier project that didn't materialize? The answer was magical: Yes.

I called photographer Adrianno Vannini, who captures the life of traveling musicians and has this gift for freezing musical moments—you can hear the sound in his images.

Three days to record everything. No time for restaurants, no time for anything but the work. But more than that, I needed to create family—everyone eating the same food, sharing the same nourishment, the same space, the same intention. Francisco Ciniglio, drummer and chef, cooked us dishes made of love, sustenance for the soul-work we were about to do.

I am not alone. Every decision, every encounter from my past led me here, to this moment, to this music.

This album you're holding, this music you've chosen to invite into your life—it carries all of this with it. The intensity of effort, the depth of love, the sacred intention woven between every note, every word you're about to receive.

Let me tell you about the decisions that brought me to you, brought this piece of audio art to your ears...

it's complicated...

Singer, songwriter and producer China Moses evolves her artistry in truth. Defiantly real, her music resists what so many labels and critics desire: category, drawing inspiration from endless styles in the expansive lineage of Black American music. And listeners fortunate to observe her in live performance know the depth of her song interpretation.

chinamoses.com
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