Moonchild is a neo-soul trio from Los Angeles that met at USC and released their first album, Be Free, in 2012. Since that time, they’ve continued to work and grow their chemistry together and build their audience. Their most recent release came in 2017, when they dropped the album Voyager. Now they’ve come back with their fourth full-length album, Little Ghost.

One of the first things that will hit you when listening to Moonchild is how good their chemistry is. Outside of Amber Navran carrying lead vocal duties throughout the album, all three members contribute on various brass, woodwinds, synths, guitar, bass, and drum programming. Many times, when working in a group setting, it helps to have roles clearly defined, maybe with one wild card multi-instrumentalist. Moonchild prove themselves to be the exception where they have a good enough working relationship and lack of ego to be able to use such a fluid dynamic within the group. Their main concern always seems to be the greater sound of the album and of the group, making this sophisticated neo-soul that works on multiple levels. On Little Ghost, the mood is set right away with the opening track, “Wise Women,” where this slightly unusual and distinct drum beat sets the tempo, only to quickly move to the background as this gorgeous keyboard line comes in to set the mood, and a subtle bass line gives the song body and plays against the drums in a way to get your head bobbing. Navran then slides in with her intimate vocals that gently navigate their way between this foundation and all of these beautiful flourishes from elements like windchimes and flute. This leads to a bridge with a horn break, which adds a playfulness to the song, while still keeping this sexy atmosphere that’s being built. Over the course of the fourteen tracks, we continue along this path, with variation, of course. Navran won’t overpower you with her voice, but she’ll draw you in with these sophisticated melodies and intricate jazz harmonies. The whole album has this gentle, sexy vibe to it, but in the course of all of these laidback grooves, the trio find a way to create some really interesting and off-kilter drumbeats that keep you on your toes a little bit. Ultimately, what you get is an album that has all of these interesting intellectual elements to it, but succeeds because of the overall mood and sound that Moonchild has created, and their outstanding chemistry making music together.

Little Ghost is an album that is for the grown and sexy, so handle with care. Moonchild has shown a lot of subtle growth and expansion over the years, never making a drastic change between albums, just continuing to refine, develop their chemistry, and encourage each other to keep pushing the music along.