Sherwin Gardner – Leaning (CD)
Leaning is Sherwin Gardner's Lion of Zion debut, and pulls in a crowd merely by the creative album art. Pop the album into an audio player and you can't tear that crowd away. Gardner's innovation and diversity combined with fabulously hard-hitting freestyle vocals and a penchant for suddenly shooting to a brief melodic falsetto is incredible. Gardner produces on the album, along with Ronnie Cash (aka DJ Frost) and Kristian Sharp on a couple tracks. Choice cuts are peppered all over the disc. "Can't Serve Two Masters" quickly embeds with it's catchy rhymes ("Can't serve two masters at the same time / either Jesus Christ or you get left behind") and nice hook that Gardner lays into a looping, weaving and "come-back again" layers of melodic arrangment in melded calypso /mild dancehall style. "One God" sits on a techno-pop base, very accessible and hype. "Time and Time" is a ode to God's consistency and faithfulness, with Gardner crooning over beds of soft acoustic guitar and pattered rhythms. Guests are all over Leaning, making for a nice mix and variety of sounds on the project. The fast-moving title track itself comes featuring the deep dancehall ruggedness of labelmate Monty G and the smoother soca flows of Jadee. "All Day Long" brings in Christafari, The Love Circleand Shiselon to a rootsy, harmonic praise with chunky percussion. On the sweeter side lie jams such as the reggae-beat fest "More Love" and the worshipful prayer of "You're All I Need" and "Never Let You Go" with Ricky Blade. Leaning is one of, if not the best, Gospel projects to come from the islands in 2002. Some good advice would be to wake up and become very familiar with Sherwin Gardner.
- £9.99