Mereba’s “The breeze Grew a fire”: a spiritual balm, A Friend During A Time Of Need
Mereba’s sophomore album “The Breeze Grew a Fire” is a balm during this time of chaos. The first two singles “Counterfeit” and “Phone Me” carry a resounding confidence reinforcing themes of uplift and power. This seems to be the backbone throughout the rest of the album’s 13 tracks. These songs are poetry, which makes sense considering she has a degree in English as told in an interview with Ebony Magazine in 2014. If you laid out the lyrics and read them aloud, it would feel like poetry in the tradition of the late Nikki Giovanni, or Sonia Sanchez or Ruth Forman. “I’m only human/I was just searching for another person to give love to/ Oh, the game left me jaded/ Baby, please/ If you’re looking for a little something more” on “White Doves” is definitely a short little poem you’d find in a Norton Anthology of Black Contemporary Poetry. Then she weaves spoken word directly into the album with the 5th track, “breeze grew fire”. This mastery of language shows whether she’s singing in a melody or rapping as she does on a couple of songs including “Hawk”. The instrumental reminds me of Sylvan Esso, then Mereba slides on it effortlessly with her words. It makes me curious on the intentions of the project - something I hope someone will ask as more media engages the project.
With her son being born in 2021, the instincts of motherhood and the show most evident in “Starlight (my baby)”. Perhaps that’s the beauty of being an artist. One day her son will grow old and though these words may shape the lives of many, most importantly he’ll have these words to guide him. Perhaps that’s what Maya Rudolph can take when she hears Minnie Ripperton’s “Lovin’ You” or that’s what Blue Ivy hears when she hears “Blue”. “Starlight follows you/ Fear is make believe” Mereba sings directly addressing the titular “my baby”. And that’s what this album is - a balm, a calming force. For the rest of us, this project is the warm embrace of a friend when we’re most vulnerable, soft enough to melt in and sweet enough to cry to at the worst.
MY TOP 3: “Out of the Blue”, “Ever Needed”, “Spirit Guiding”
Buy the album via Bandcamp (like me), or iTunes, or the Secretly Canadian website. Either way - support artists.