Joss Stone Goes Reggae on ‘Water For Your Soul’

Stephanie Hernandez

Joss Stone first broke out as a soul sensation in her early teens. Since then we’ve seen the songstress take on many a genre, switching from R&B to blues, rock to funk and everywhere in between. Her past six albums have all been powered by the soul train that undoubtedly runs the link between Stone’s voice and heart, but on her seventh LP “Water For Your Soul” Joss decided to branch into uncharted reggae territory. With the help of Stone’s longtime bandmate Damien Marley from all-star group SuperHeavy (Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahman.), who encouraged her to embrace the Reggae sound while helping with the record production. The 14-track album is definitely not what you would expect from this 28-year-old soul sensation, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

The sonic wanderlust so vividly expressed on “Water For Your Soul” can be attributed to Stone’s ongoing world tour, whose end goal is to have played a concert in every one of the world’s 204 countries within the next three years. It should come as no surprise that this English songbird would crave to interpret the sounds she has come to experience and fall in love with in the past decade.  With an expert guide in the form of Damien Marley by her side, her pivot into soul splashed Reggae was well planned. Just over five years in the making, “Water For Your Soul” allows Stone’s deep and robust voice to channel itself into a lighter more rhythmic sound. Joyous Caribbean flair is blended against exotic and worldly sounds painting a colorful picture you want to take time to soak in.

Tracks like “Love Me” and “Way Oh” create a blanket of melodic horns and steady backbeats that if you are open to the traditional reggae style, will immediately pull you into the remainder of the record. “Sensimilla” comes in with what could initiate a slight eye roll at first listen, the pro marijuana track stumbles into slight inauthenticity when Stone makes the decision to sing part of the song in patois. Quickly regaining her balance from this slight misstep, she reins herself back in with “This Ain’t Love” and “Stuck on You,” where Joss injects a little of what she does best, soul music with some bass, into this new sound. “Way Oh” comes in with some weight, the Goth-reggae contrasts well with the rest of the album’s more joyous tone. Saving the catchy “Molly Town” for the second half of the record, Joss’s voice, and charisma recalls memories of the great Lauryn Hill, lending to the genuine heartfelt feeling strung throughout the album.

“Water For Your Soul” took Stone on a slight detour outside her usual heavier material and into the realm of light hearted, carefree reggae. After over a decade in the business Joss could have gone down the well-beaten road of soulful songstress turned pop mouthpiece, but instead she has decided to take the high road (possibly quite literally here) and stay true to her deeply rooted organic and retro drenched sound, something few artists can say nowadays.

“Water For Your Soul” is available on Apple Music and iTunes July 31.