This song has been floating around the internets as of late, and it’s currently tickling my fancy. When I first heard “Stillness is the Move” by the awesome Dirty Projectors earlier this year, I felt that it was a noble attempt at a soulful R&B song, a bit deconstructed, a bit more existential, and sung by white girls–almost like an alien’s honest and fresh take on a top 40 Pop Song of 15 years ago–all of this, and it was weirdly catchy.
Solange Knowles’ take on this abstract construction turns it into a Jam. She retains the chorus of women singing the stunted “ahh ahh ahh’s” of the Dirty Projectors, and while the content is very much the same, the form is a re-interpretation of an interpretation. It also calls back to the old school jams of the past, using the same guitar sample that appears in Erykah Badu’s “Bag Lady” and Dr. Dre’s “Xplosive” (or whatever it’s called). It also injects some inherent soul that, although was not lacking, is immediately more accessible. Solange’s range isn’t much greater than the singer of Dirty Projectors, and she’s not as adventurous, but she definitely pulls it off! As much as I like Beyonce, I’m glad Solange is doing her own thing.
mp3: Solange “Stillness Is The Move” Dirty Projectors Cover
