Kendra Morris has had a lot of interesting twists and turns throughout her music career. Early on, she found herself singing for Dennis Coffey when he toured his self-titled comeback album in 2011. It was around this time that she got signed to Wax Poetics, and she released two acclaimed albums in 2012 and 2013, Banshee and Mockingbird. Since that time, Morris has seen her label go under, self-released an EP, Babble, in 2016, worked with Czarface on a couple of songs, and gave birth to her child, just to name a few of the highlights. Now, after all this time, things have finally lined up again for her to release a new full-length solo album, Nine Lives.

For Nine Lives, Morris collaborated with her longtime musical partner Jeremy Page, and the two of them managed to pull of quite the feat with this album. By that, I mean that this album is both an extension of the groundwork that Morris way laying down ten-plus years ago, but it also sets out on a new chapter, where the maturity and self-assuredness of a woman reclaiming her space as an artist can shine. Overall, the sound of the album harkens back to the early ‘70s, where rock and symphonic soul overlap, but it also tips it hand to some hip hop influence, a la El Michels Affair. At different points across the album, I’m reminded of everyone from Dusty Springfield to Dionne Warwick to Isaac Hayes to Curtis Mayfield, just to name a few. The album is very ballad driven, but it never feels like it drags or becomes self-indulgent. That’s thanks to the arrangements of the songs and the tightness of the backing band, but mostly to the way that Morris is able to bring you into her world with her lyrics and her voice. As one would expect from an album like this, Morris’s vocals are front and center with this album, and the thing that struck me the most about her performance here is just how all of her experience and education has brought her to a point where she can have such a great understanding of her tool set. She knows just when to turn up the volume and belt it out, but she also knows when to dial it back, and when to ride somewhere in the middle. She’s also making incredibly smart and interesting choices with her melodic and harmonic arrangements, keeping things in motion and always creating a point of interest to drive these ballads. She’s also keeping the melody in the forefront to drive the songs and keep them memorable, which is easier said than done. She has a great rasp to her voice that comes through just a little when she’s belting out the big moments, but she’s just as engaging at different moments with incredible control when she brings things down and sings some soft harmonies. Throughout all of this, Morris is opening up and just taking you through the emotional journey that she’s been on over the last few years, whether it be romantic, professional, or just the trials and tribulations of everyday life. As a result, the album really grows on you with each listen. It’s got a sense of theatrics to it that makes it fun and entertaining, but it’s also grounded in some very real lived experiences that gives it the foundation to stand up on and become an album that you can keep returning to over and over.

Nine Lives seems like a simple enough album at first, but as you wind your way through each track, you begin to realize just how jam packed this album is. The smart and soulful arrangements that keep the funk within the ballads, the tight ensemble backing Morris, and the woman herself, front and center, stepping up to the mic and delivering the best performance of her career to date.