Myles Sanko: "Just Being Me" LP

This is the third album by UK-based singer/songwriter, Myles Sanko, who originally hails from Accra in Ghana and debuted in 2014 with an LP called 'Forever Dreaming.' For various reasons, that particular album passed me by (though it was reviewed at SJF by my colleague Bill Buckley) but after being mightily impressed by this, his latest, opus, I'm prompted to go back and investigate his previous work. That's because 'Just Being Me' is a supremely classy, soulful offering that has substance as well as polish. Sanko's influences range from Gregory Porter and Bill Withers to Aloe Blacc and Gil Scott-Heron and though it's not hard to detect their DNA in his music he's managed to assimilate and fuse those elements with both his own personality and musical sensibility. What results is a sound and approach that is distinctive rather than derivative. Having a good sound is one thing but being in possession of good songs is another though thankfully, Myles Sanko knows how to pen decent tunes that marry strong melodies with serious lyrics and meaningful messages.

Label: Légère Recordings