Naomi Cowan - Welcome To Paradise (Easy Star Records)

Cowan is the daughter of producer, MC, and impresario Tommy Cowan, and gospel- and reggae singer Carlene Davis. Yet the gospel influences so present in her mother’s work are nowhere to be found on ‘Welcome To Paradise’.

Naomi Cowan: “Gospel was never something I felt drawn to even though that’s my foundation. Because of how I was raised, my faith naturally flows through everything I do. But I’ve always wanted to reach as many people as possible through my music.”

So how does ‘Welcome To Paradise’ sound then? Like a rich stew of rocksteady, reggae, and dancehall influences, seasoned with touches of pop, r&b and soul.

Cowan elaborates: “We brought back all those foundational reggae elements - the horns, the basslines, the grooves - and fused them with modern drums and textures. It’s reggae evolving, but it’s still true to the core.”

The album opens with ‘Beautiful Ska’, not ska, but a dubby, modern reimagining of ‘Ba Ba Boom’, the big hit by ska and rocksteady outfit The Jamaicans, of which Tommy Cowan was once a member.

Asked about her favorite track on the record, Naomi doesn’t hesitate: “It’s ‘Version’ hands down! It’s everybody’s favorite. I love to sing it; love how it sounds musically and vocally.”. At first listen, ‘Version’ sounds like a lively ode to sound system culture, but it’s really a metaphor for the physical side of a love relationship (“Press up against you like a tune…”, “Flip mi like a vinyl…”, “Careful with di needle…”). The song also weaves in snippets from Johnny Osbourne’s ‘Rock It Tonight (Dub Plate Playing)’.

Another highlight is ‘Woman Respect’, a female empowerment anthem paying homage to reggae and dancehall icons like Rita Marley, Sister Nancy, and of course, Naomi’s mother Carlene Davis. Yet above all, Cowan demands respect for women, because: “Yuh never see no man born nuh baby yet!”.

Naomi adds: “I think women are such a magnificent representation of God’s creativity, in terms of how our minds work, our bodies work. Yes, we’ve had a feminist movement that’s empowered us to be strong, but I do feel at times we as women don’t give each other enough respect. We demand it from the world, but do we give it to each other? Society raises women to compete against each other. I think it’s very important that we as women in music continue to push our message forward.”

The only combination track on ‘Welcome To Paradise’ is ‘Lonely Love’, featuring Runkus. In ‘Moments’, Cowan playfully sings: “I don’t want somebody who’s loving everybody. Need a shy guy. Wanna be my guy?”, a clear nod to Diana King’s world hit ‘Shy Guy’.

The album closes on an intimate note with ‘Imagine’, a stripped-down piano ballad reminiscent of Alicia Keys’ work.

Naomi leaves us with this final reflection: “The message I want people to take away is to choose love always, and the experience I want them to have is to hopefully recognize that as people, we don’t have to be one-dimensional all the time. We have many aspects to who we are, and we can all be ourselves and still be worthy of the highest love. I want listeners to feel loved within themselves. I would love for them to just walk away and feel a little bit more confident, a little more open-hearted, a little more excited about who they are. I think we walk around trying to be who we think we’re supposed to be. So that’s why this album is so vulnerable.”